Radiographic and magnetic resonance imaging predicts severity of cruciate ligament fiber damage and synovitis in dogs with cranial cruciate ligament rupture
by Susannah J. Sample, Molly A. Racette, Eric C. Hans, Nicola J. Volstad, Gerianne Holzman, Jason A. Bleedorn, Susan L. Schaefer, Kenneth R. Waller III, Zhengling Hao, Walter F. Block, Peter Muir
Cruciate ligament rupture (CR) and associated osteoarthritis (OA) is a common condition in dogs. Dogs frequently develop a second contralateral CR. This study tested the hypothesis that the degree of stifle synovitis and cranial cruciate ligament (CrCL) matrix damage in dogs with CR is correlated with non-invasive diagnostic tests, including magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. We conducted a prospective cohort study of 29 client-owned dogs with an unstable stifle due to complete CR and stable contralateral stifle with partial CR. We evaluated correlation of stifle synovitis and CrCL fiber damage with diagnostic tests including bilateral stifle radiographs, 3.0 Tesla MR imaging, and bilateral stifle arthroscopy. Histologic grading and immunohistochemical staining for CD3+ T lymphocytes, TRAP+ activated macrophages and Factor VIII+ blood vessels in bilateral stifle synovial biopsies were also performed. Serum and synovial fluid concentrations of C-reactive protein (CRP) and carboxy-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (ICTP), and synovial total nucleated cell count were determined. Synovitis was increased in complete CR stifles relative to partial CR stifles (P<0.0001), although total nucleated cell count in synovial fluid was increased in partial CR stifles (P<0.01). In partial CR stifles, we found that 3D Fast Spin Echo Cube CrCL signal intensity was correlated with histologic synovitis (SR = 0.50, P<0.01) and that radiographic OA was correlated with CrCL fiber damage assessed arthroscopically (SR = 0.61, P<0.001). Taken together, results of this study show that clinical diagnostic tests predict severity of stifle synovitis and cruciate ligament matrix damage in stable partial CR stifles. These data support use of client-owned dogs with unilateral complete CR and contralateral partial CR as a clinical trial model for investigation of disease-modifying therapy for partial CR.Publisher URL: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0178086
Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.
Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.