A comparison between high density mineralised protrusions identified in the knees of cadavers and in patients of the osteoarthritis initiative

Abstract

Purpose: Fatigue-induced microcracking is a common, naturally occurring phenomenon in articular calcified cartilage and subchondral bone (SCB). These microcracks are, in some cases, healed by infilling with and mineralisation of an aqueous matrix. High density mineralised protrusions (HDMP) of the same matrix from the tidemark mineralising front into hyaline articular cartilage (HAC) form as an aberrant by-product of this aresorptive repair mechanism. First discovered in equine joints, HDMPs have now been confirmed on the articular surfaces of femoral heads in humans with ochronotic and conventional osteoarthritis (OA).