Serni U, Marin G, Matucci A, Dal Pozzo G C, Petacchi D, Naldoni G C, Taverni N
Rheumatology Division, Tuscan Orthopaedic Institute, Florence, Italy.
Int J Clin Pharmacol Res. 1993;13 Suppl:43-7.
In the pathology of joints, the main aim is an early diagnosis. In osteoarthritis (OA), where laboratory support is particularly poor, traditional radiology is informative only when the pathologic process is so advanced that prevention is difficult, either by changing life habits or by treating with chondroprotective drugs. Therefore an ideal diagnostic imaging tool should be sensitive, specific, reproducible and not invasive. In our opinion, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) has all these characteristics and in particular can show meaningful pictures of cartilage and subchondral bone. We therefore compared NMR and traditional radiology to the gross pathology shown by arthroscopy at an early stage of OA, before and after treatment with glycosamino-glucuron-glycan-sulphate (GGGS) or placebo. Our results suggest that NMR is quite meaningful and can detect early OA joint modifications. With this technique the placebo-treated OA patients showed a natural increase in their pathologic picture, while the GGGS-treated patients seemed to experience a retardation in the progression of the disease.
在关节病理学中，主要目标是早期诊断。在骨关节炎（OA）中，实验室检查的辅助作用特别有限，传统放射学只有在病理过程发展到晚期，无论是通过改变生活习惯还是使用软骨保护药物都难以预防时，才具有参考价值。因此，理想的诊断成像工具应具备敏感性、特异性、可重复性且无创性。我们认为，核磁共振（NMR）具备所有这些特性，尤其能够显示出软骨和软骨下骨的有意义图像。因此，我们将核磁共振和传统放射学与关节镜检查在OA早期、使用氨基葡萄糖醛酸聚糖硫酸酯（GGGS）或安慰剂治疗前后所显示的大体病理学结果进行了比较。我们的结果表明，核磁共振非常有意义，能够检测出OA关节的早期改变。通过这项技术，接受安慰剂治疗的OA患者病理状况自然加重，而接受GGGS治疗的患者疾病进展似乎有所延缓。
