Ultrasonographic Measurement of the Femoral Cartilage Thickness in Patients with Behçet's Disease

Ultrasonographic assessment of femoral cartilage thickness in patients with and without uveitis in Behçet's disease

The objective for this study is to evaluate the femoral cartilage thickness in patients with/without uveitis in Behçet's disease (BD). Patients with BD aged 18-70 years were included. The demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients were recorded. The thickness of femoral articular cartilage was measured with musculoskeletal ultrasound. Cartilage thickness was measured bilaterally from the central points of medial condyle (MFC), lateral condyle (LFC), and intercondylar area (ICA). 20 patients with uveitis [uveitis (+)] and 20 patients without uveitis [uveitis (-)] were included. Both right and left MFC and LFC had statistically significant thinner cartilage in uveitis (+) group (p < 0.05). For the ICA, uveitis (+) patients had thinner femoral cartilage than uveitis (-) patients; however, in the left side, statistically significance could not be detected. Femoral cartilage was thinner in uveitis (+) patients than in uveitis (-) patients in BD. This relationship between uveitis and femoral cartilage thickness may be helpful in the prevention and early treatment of cartilage degeneration.

The Effects of Smoking on Ultrasonographic Thickness and Elastosonographic Strain Ratio Measurements of Distal Femoral Cartilage

Although adverse effects of smoking on bone health are all well known, data on how smoking interacts with cartilage structure in otherwise healthy individuals remains conflicting. Here, we ascertain the effects of cigarette smoking on sonoelastographic properties of distal femoral cartilage in asymptomatic adults. Demographic characteristics and smoking habits (packets/year) of healthy volunteers were recorded. Medial, intercondylar, and lateral distal femoral cartilage thicknesses and strain ratios on the dominant extremity were measured with ultrasonography (US) and real time US elastography. A total of 88 subjects (71 M, 17 F; aged 18–56 years, N = 43 smokers and N = 45 nonsmokers) were evaluated. Mean amount of cigarette smoking was 10.3 ± 8.9 (1–45) packets/year. Medial, intercondylar and lateral cartilage were thicker in smokers than nonsmokers (p = 0.002, p = 0.017, and p = 0.004, respectively). Medial distal femoral cartilage strain ratio was lower in smokers (p = 0.003). The amount of smoking was positively correlated with cartilage thicknesses and negatively correlated with medial cartilage strain ratios (p < 0.05). Femoral cartilage is thicker in smokers but has less strain ratio representing harder cartilage on the medial side. Future studies are needed to understand how these structural changes in the knee cartilage should be interpreted with regard to the development of knee osteoarthritis in smokers.