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Bone Marrow Lesions May Be Cause of Arthritis Pain

Thu, 04/05/2001 - 12:00am — Karen Stevenson
Description: 

Researchers have never been sure of the cause of arthritis pain, since cartilage that is affected has no nerve endings, but a new study points to one possible cause. Researchers led by Dr. David T. Felson of Boston University School of Medicine in Massachusetts studied 401 people with knee osteoarthritis, some who had knee pain, and some who did not, to see if they could find a common thread among those with pain.

Bone marrow lesions were found in 78% of those with painful knees compared with 30% of persons with no knee pain. Large lesions were present almost exclusively in persons with knee pain, and after adjustment for severity of radiographic disease, effusion, age, and sex, lesions and large lesions remained associated with the occurrence of knee pain. They concluded that bone marrow lesions on MRI are strongly associated with the presence of pain in knee osteoarthritis.

The study was funded by Bayer Corporation, the Arthritis Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, and is published in the April 3 issue of Annuls of Internal Medicine.

Researchers have never been sure of the cause of arthritis pain, since cartilage that is affected has no nerve endings, but a new study points to one possible cause. Researchers led by Dr. David T. Felson of Boston University School of Medicine in Massachusetts studied 401 people with knee osteoarthritis, some who had knee pain, and some who did not, to see if they could find a common thread among those with pain.

Bone marrow lesions were found in 78% of those with painful knees compared with 30% of persons with no knee pain. Large lesions were present almost exclusively in persons with knee pain, and after adjustment for severity of radiographic disease, effusion, age, and sex, lesions and large lesions remained associated with the occurrence of knee pain. They concluded that bone marrow lesions on MRI are strongly associated with the presence of pain in knee osteoarthritis.

The study was funded by Bayer Corporation, the Arthritis Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, and is published in the April 3 issue of Annuls of Internal Medicine.