Fine detail radiography of the femoral head in osteoarthritis.

In an effort to define the relationship of articular cartilage to subchondral bond in osteoarthritis, fine detail radiography of over 600 femoral heads were examined. In general, cartilage loss was paralleled by subchondral bone thickening, but this was not a uniform finding. In the inferomedial part of the femoral head, thickening of the subchondral bone plate never occurred. If the cartilage thickening in this area exceeded 2 mm then a new subchondral bone plate was formed.