Baseline abnormalities of the medial tibia cartilage as well as an incident joint effusion, progressive patella cartilage defects, and an incident medial meniscus tear over 48 months may be associated with incident knee pain. This according to a study of 60 patients developing incident knee pain over 48 months and 60 controls. Researchers found:

• 1 baseline MRI finding and 3 findings that changed from baseline to 48 months were associated with pain development: at baseline, the severity of a cartilage lesion in the medial tibia was associated with incident pain (OR=3.05).

• Longitudinally, an incident effusion (OR=9.78), a progressive cartilage lesion of the patella (OR=4.59), and an incident medial meniscus tear (OR=4.91) were associated with pain development.

Citation: Joseph GN, Hou SW, Nardo L, et al. MRI findings associated with development of incident knee pain over 48 months: data from the osteoarthritis initiative. [Published online ahead of print February 27, 2016]. Skeletal Radiol. doi: 10.1007/s00256-016-2343-5.