Clinical trial: Loaded and Unloaded Magnetic Resonance (MR) Imaging of Meniscus-Cartilage-Trabecular Bone in Osteoarthritis (NCT01919736)

Eligibility criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

          -  Men and women

          -  At least 35 years of age

          -  Mild OA patients with arthritic knee symptoms and KL score of 1-2

          -  Severe OA patients with arthritic knee symptoms and KL score of 3-4

          -  Knee symptoms in OA patients is defined as 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

          -  self reported knee pain (defined as medial compartment knee pain at least 1 day per
             week during each of the 6 weeks prior to participation) and at least 3 of the
             following 6 clinical indicators: Age>50 years; morning stiffness<30 minutes duration;
             crepitus on active motion; tenderness of the bony margins of the knee joint; bony
             enlargement at the knee; and lack of palpable warmth of the synovium

        Exclusion Criteria:

          -  current use of investigational drug

          -  conditions other than OA which limit lower extremity function and mobility and/or
             would confound the evaluation of function (e.g., clinically significant spinal disc
             degeneration, painful or dysfunctional feet, peripheral vascular disease, lumbar
             radiculopathy, trochanteric bursitis, hip pain, lumbar pain)

          -  Patients with metallic fragments in the eyes, vascular clips, pacemakers, and other
             contraindications to MRI

          -  History of joint replacement, intra-articular fracture, osteotomy, arthroplasty or
             meniscectomy of the signal knee

          -  History of other disease that may involve the study joint including systemic
             inflammatory disease, crystalline disease, knee infection of the signal knee,
             avascular necrosis, Paget's disease or tumors

          -  Self reported heart condition that limits any daily physical activity

          -  Patients who are pregnant
No condition on gender to be admitted to the trial.
No healthy subjects accepted to join the trial.
Subject must be at least 35 Years old.
Subject must be at most 80 Years

Patient description (medical language): 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 description (patient's own words): 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.

Does the patient match the trial criteria? 1