A STUDY OF ROLE OF PLAIN RADIOLOGY IN DIAGNOSIS OF DEGENERATIVE ARTHRITIS

Abstract

This study was carried out to correlate the clinical findings with radiological finding to see the incidence of age, sex and particular joints involved in degenerative arthritis patients. The study was conducted in 20 outdoor patients of Mayo Hospital, Lahore. The age ranged from 40 to 70 years with mean age of 55 years. Ten (50%) each were male and female. Complaints of pain, stiffness and limitation of movements affected joints was present in all cases along with swelling and tenderness. Ten (50%) of the 20 patients had involvement of knee joint, 5 (25%) of cervical spine 2 (10%)of lumber spine, 1 (5%) of shoulder joint, 1 (5%) of wrist joint and 1 (5%( of ankle joint. All 20 (100%) patients had disc/joint space narrowing, marginal sclerosis / sub-chondral sclerosis. Nineteen (95%) had osteophyte formation and 1 (5%) had cyst formation. It is concluded that degenerative arthritis occurs almost equally in males and females above 40 years with complaints of pain, stiffness and limitation of movement. Knee joint is the most commonly involved joint in this disease. Radiology can play a vital role by diagnosing the disease process early and thus to preventing disability due to its advanced stage and in reducing socio-economic losses to the individual and to the nation.