ULTRASONIC CHARACTERIZATION OF IN-VITRO OSTEOARTHRITIC ARTICULAR-CARTILAGE WITH VALIDATION BY CONFOCAL MICROSCOPY

The majority of adults over the age of 65 y develop osteoarthritis (OA ), a joint disease characterized by degeneration of articular cartilag e and subchondral sclerosis, Early in the disease, the articular carti lage surface begins to change histologically from a smooth to a rough or fibrillated appearance, A prerequisite for any chondroprotective ph armacological intervention is detection of OA in its preclinical phase . Current diagnostic imaging modalities, such as radiographs or (nucle ar) magnetic resonance imaging, either cannot directly image the carti lage surface or lack sufficient resolution to detect surface fibrillat ions, We have developed an ultrasonic technique that can be used to ch aracterize these surface fibrillations directly, We present our in vit ro results with validation by laser-based confocal microscopic imaging . (C) 1997 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology.