Chao J, Wu C, Sun B et al.
University of California–San Diego,La Jolla, CA, USA.
J Rheumatol 2010;37:650–5.
Editor’s note: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common cause of knee pain, particularly in older individuals. Intra-articular corticosteroid injections are sometimes used to relieve the symptoms of OA of the knee; however, evidence of their effectiveness is limited and symptomatic improvement may last only a few weeks. Although OA has traditionally been considered a non-inflammatory condition, ultrasound or magnetic resonance imaging scans of osteoarthritic knees show signs of inflammation in ≥50% of cases (Ann Rheum Dis 2005;64:1703–9). However, it is uncertain whether these appearances on imaging signify clinically important inflammation or whether they can be used to predict response to therapy. In this study, the authors aimed to address the latter question.