An osteoarthritis specialist who was not involved with the working group cautioned that waiting for MRI structural changes that are specific for OA may still miss a truly early diagnosis, before irreversible pathology occurred.
“It’s too early to know the definition of OA on MRI. We know what features of OA are on MRI, but that doesn’t mean we can make a diagnosis based on MRI,” commented Dr. Tuhina Neogi, a rheumatologist at Boston University. “There are early changes [seen with MRI] that are not picked up on radiographs, but we don’t yet have a standardized, validated definition of an earlier stage” on MRI, Dr. Neogi said in an interview.
Dr. Hunter said that he has received research support from AstraZeneca, DJO Inc. (DonJoy), Eli Lilly & Co., Merck & Co., Pfizer Inc., Stryker Corp., and Wyeth. Eight of the other members of the working group also provided disclosures, whereas the remaining seven members said they had no disclosures. Dr. Neogi had no disclosures.