Abstract
Though knee osteoarthritis (OA) is diagnosed and monitored radiographically, full thickness cartilage loss (FTCL) has rarely been correlated with radiographic classification. This study aims to analyse which classification system correlates best with FTCL and assessing their reliability.
Prospective study of 300 consecutive patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA) for OA. Two blinded examiners independently graded preoperative radiographs using 5 systems: Kellgren-Lawrence (KL); International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC); Fairbank; Brandt; and Ahlback. Interobserver agreement was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient. Intraoperatively, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) status and FTCL in 16 regions of interest were recorded. Radiographic classification and FTCL were correlated using the Spearman correlation coefficient.
On average, each knee had 6.8±3.1 regions of FTCL, most common medially. The commonest patterns of FTCL were medial with patellofemoral (48%) and tricompartmental (30%). ACL status was associated with pattern of FTCL (p=0.02). All classification systems demonstrated moderate ICC, but this was highest for IKDC: whole knee 0.68 (95%CI 0.60–0.74); medial compartment 0.84 (0.80–0.87); and lateral compartment 0.79 (0.73–0.83). Correlation with FTCL was strongest for Ahlback (Spearman rho 0.27–0.39) and KL (0.30–0.33), though all systems demonstrated medium correlation. The Ahlback was the most discriminating in severe OA. Osteophyte presence in the medial compartment had high positive predictive value for FTCL, but not in the lateral compartment.
The Ahlback and KL systems had the highest correlation with confirmed cartilage loss. However, the IKDC system displayed best interobserver reliability, with favourable correlation with FTCL in medial and lateral compartments, though less discriminating in severe disease.
