Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 May-Jun;52(3):239-47.
doi: 10.1111/j.1740-8261.2011.01803.x. Epub 2011 Mar 21.

Radiographic evaluation of feline appendicular degenerative joint disease vs. Macroscopic appearance of articular cartilage

Mila Freire  1 , Ian Robertson, Howard D Bondell, James Brown, Jon Hash, Anthony P Pease, B Duncan X Lascelles
Affiliations

Radiographic evaluation of feline appendicular degenerative joint disease vs. Macroscopic appearance of articular cartilage

Mila Freire et al. Vet Radiol Ultrasound. 2011 May-Jun.

Abstract

Degenerative joint disease (DJD) is common in domesticated cats. Our purpose was to describe how radiographic findings thought to indicate feline DJD relate to macroscopic cartilage degeneration in appendicular joints. Thirty adult cats euthanized for reasons unrelated to this study were evaluated. Orthogonal digital radiographs of the elbow, tarsus, stifle, and coxofemoral joints were evaluated for the presence of DJD. The same joints were dissected for visual inspection of changes indicative of DJD and macroscopic cartilage damage was graded using a Total Cartilage Damage Score. When considering all joints, there was statistically significant fair correlation between cartilage damage and the presence of osteophytes and joint-associated mineralizations, and the subjective radiographic DJD score. Most correlations were statistically significant when looking at the different joints individually, but only the correlation between the presence of osteophytes and the subjective radiographic DJD score with the presence of cartilage damage in the elbow and coxofemoral joints had a value above 0.4 (moderate correlation). The joints most likely to have cartilage damage without radiographic evidence of DJD are the stifle (71% of radiographically normal joints) followed by the coxofemoral joint (57%), elbow (57%), and tarsal joint (46%). Our data support radiographic findings not relating well to cartilage degeneration, and that other modalities should be evaluated to aid in making a diagnosis of feline DJD.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources