The osteoarthritis sighting localizations in cadaver knee, ankle and foot joints, radiological, histopathological and morphological comparasion

There is not any literature available about osteoarthritis of the knee, talocrural and the tarsitransversal joints together studied by macroskobic, microskobic and radiological procedures. In the present study we investigated the insidence of osteoarthritis in the age of 30-50 years of cadaver by macroskobic, microskobic and radiological aspects. The comparison of the general features of the osteoarthritis such as localization, degree and the shape of the lesions by radiological and morphological aspect, and the relationship between them is aimed in this study.In our study we used 20 cadavers which were between 30-50 years old that are fixed in % 10 formaldehyde solutions. The antero-posterior and lateral radiographs of the knee, talocrural and tarsi transversal joints were taken and these results were evaluated by Kellgren and Lawrence scales by 5 degrees between 0 and 4 for each joint.The joint surfaces of the related joints were dissected anatomically. Each joint surface divided into 5 areas as anterior, posterior, medial, lateral and central. The degenerative changes of the determined joints were noted and degreed between 1-4. The specimens taken from these areas were evaluated by microscobic methods. The scoring between 1-4 was performed according to the alterations of the degeneration of the cartilage, fibrillation, intensity, deepness, the aggregation of the cartilage cells and the necrotic alterations. All these data were analized by SPSS 15.0 [Statistical Package for Social Sciences] for Windows. The Kappa test was used for comparing the results of macroskobic and microskobical procedures.As a result, we were able to compare the results of the macroscobic and microscobic procedures for 5 areas of each joints. We were only able to get the results for the whole joints radiologically so that we could not compare the results of the radiologic investigations with the morphologic results.Although, approximately in the 1/3 of the cadavers aged between 30 and 50, the OA was identified macroscobically and radiologically, there were different degrees of degeneration for each joints in the microscobic investigation. These results indicates that the OA as an elder disease can begin in the early ages.Keywords: Osteoarthritis, knee joint, talocrural joint, tarsitransversal join