Patient case (clinical description): A 66-year-old woman comes to the office due to joint pain in the hands and periodic morning stiffness that lasts less than 15 minutes.  The pain is moderately severe and worsens with daily activity. The patient used Tylenol with minimal relief.  Past medical history is notable for hypertension and hypercholesteremia.  Physical examination shows firm nodules over the distal interphalangeal joints, bilaterally. The patient has pain in her knees as well. The knees are stiff in the morning for less than 30 minutes and become worse with climbing stairs. She has some sensation of bone friction during activity. X-ray shows narrowing of the joint space, subchondral bone sclerosis and osteophyte formation along the joints.

Patient's own account: I'm a 66-year-old woman and I went to my doctor's office because of a bloody joint pain in my hands that has been lasting for a while. The pain comes and go in the morning usually. I feel like a stiffness that last less than 15 minutes. The pain is moderately severe but it gets worse when I'm using my hands. I used Tylenol which helped a little. Apart from that, I suffer from hypertension and high cholesterol. The doctor made me notice that I have bumps around both of my hand joints. I also suffer from my knees and they are also stiff in the morning for around 30 min. It's even worse when I climb up the stairs! I also feel like my bones are rubbing against each other when I'm moving. The X-ray showed that I have narrow joint space, I have sclerosis, and abnormal growths of bone along my joints.

Clinical trial: Weight-Bearing Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) for Analysis of Knee Osteoarthritis (OA)

Eligibility criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

          -  Female

          -  40 years and older

          -  Subjects who are willing and able to comply with x-ray and MRI procedures

          -  Evidence of a personally signed and dated consent document

        Additional inclusion for normal controls:

          -  Infrequent knee pain, aching, or stiffness during the past year or infrequent use of
             medication for treatment of knee pain during the past year

          -  No evidence of OA on either knee (i.e. K-L grade = 0 diagnosed by knee radiography)

        Additional inclusion for OA patients:

          -  Pain, aching, or stiffness on most days of a month during the past year; or use of
             medication for treatment of knee pain on most days of a month during the past year

          -  Kellgren-Lawrence Grade 2 or 3 of the study knee obtained on a Standard knee
             radiograph (with either the same or less severe OA, or no OA in the contralateral
             knee)

        Exclusion Criteria:

          -  Subject is unable to undergo MRI because of contraindication

          -  Women at risk of pregnancy

          -  Weight greater than 250 lbs

          -  History of surgery in the study knee

          -  History of other diseases involving the study knee joint including inflammatory joint
             diseases, crystalline disease, and infection of the study knee
Female
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Subject must be at least 40 Years old.


Eligibility (NLI label): Contradiction