HomeRadiologyVol. 40, No. 4 PreviousNext Announcements and Book ReviewsBook ReviewChanges in the Knee Joints at Various AgesPublished Online:Apr 1 1943https://doi.org/10.1148/40.4.412cMoreSectionsPDF ToolsImage ViewerAdd to favoritesCiteTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked In AbstractBy Granville A. Bennett, M.D., Associate Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, Hans Waine, M.D., Research Fellow in Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Graduate Assistant in Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Walter Bauer, M.D., Associate Professor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Physician to the Massachusetts General Hospital, Director Robert W. Lovett Memorial Foundation for the Study of Crippling Diseases. A volume of 97 pages with 9 figures and 31 plates. Published by The Commonwealth Fund, New York. Price $2.50.This monograph is based on a study of knee joints from sixty-three persons, from one month to ninety years of age, the specimens being obtained at postmortem examination or after amputations. None of the records mentioned any complaints referable to the joint. Roentgenologic, macroscopic, and microscopic studies were made of each joint. Normal developmental and pathologic findings were carefully recorded according to the decade of life, and findings in the menisci, contact and non-contact portions of the cartilage, the subchondral bone with special reference to early formation of osteophytes, the synovia, subsynovial tissue, and the blood vessels are reported in detail.Microscopic changes in the articular cartilage occurred as early as the second decade in the contact portions on the patella and femur, in the weight-bearing contact parts on the femur and tibia, and in the menisci. Macroscopically a few irregularities were seen in the cartilage in the second decade of life but by the third decade there were linear grooves and ridges, strips and shreds of superficial cartilage which were partially detached. Subchondral changes in bone did not occur until after thinning of the cartilage. The earliest subchondral changes were seen in the fourth decade; the marrow spaces in the bone beneath the regions of thinned cartilage were filled with cellular hyperemic fibrous tissue, and the number of osteoblasts and osteoclasts was increased. In every instance this reaction led to increased density of the subchondral bone. Microscopic evidence of lipping was apparent in one case in the fourth decade of life, but roentgenologic evidences of spurs were not regularly apparent until the sixth, seventh, and eighth decades. Changes visible in the roentgenograms were minimal compared with the gross findings of damage in the cartilage. The synovial membranes by the fifth decade revealed minimal villous hypertrophy and perivascular lymphocytic infiltration beneath the synovial lining. These findings were more apparent in the sixth, seventh, and eighth decades. Arteriosclerosis had no apparent relation to the amount of articular damage.Following the description of the anatomic changes, the authors discuss the concepts of pathogenesis and considerations of etiology on the basis of their own findings and a comprehensive study of the work of others.Article HistoryPublished in print: Apr 1943 FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsCited ByScientific Reports, Vol. 12, No. 1Recommended Articles RSNA Education Exhibits RSNA Case Collection Vol. 40, No. 4 Metrics Altmetric Score PDF download