Radiographic and pathologic studies of feline appendicular osteoarthritis

Ariffin, Siti Mariam Zainal (2015) Radiographic and pathologic studies of feline appendicular osteoarthritis. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Feline Osteoarthritis (OA) is a pathological change of a diarthrodial articulation which primarily occurs in older cats. The aims of this study were:- 1) to define the
radiographic features of OA in the cat for each individual appendicular joint; 2) to relate the radiographic features to the gross pathologic and histopathologic features; 3)
to explore underlying causes of OA in cats, 4) to identify the presence of Protease Activated Receptor-2 (PAR-2) and matriptase in feline articular cartilage and synovial
membrane and to determine their role in OA pathogenesis.
The present study has defined five radiographic features of OA for each appendicular joint:- presence of osteophytes, enthesiophytes, areas of abnormal mineralisation,synovial effusion and joint remodelling. The study furthermore suggested that increases in radio-opacity beneath the semilunar notch, along the femoral trochlea, beneath the
tibial plateau and on the femoral head/neck are also important radiographic features. The radiographic prevalence was highest in the elbow (23.9%, 93/389) and stifle (23.9%,93/389) joints, followed by the hip (21.1%, 82/389), tarsal (17.7%, 69/389), shoulder(6.7%, 27/389) and carpal (6.4%, 25/389) joints. The results from this study
demonstrate that the presence of a radiographically apparent supinator sesamoid bone(SSB), meniscal mineralisation (MM) and two fabellae are related to cartilage pathology and can be indicators of OA.
Prevalence rates for gross pathology changes were highest in the elbow (20.2%,102/506) joint, followed by the stifle (19.6%, 99/506), hip (18.4%, 93/506), shoulder
(17.8%, 90/506), tarsal (15.0%, 76/506), and carpal (9.1%, 46/506) joints. Eight key gross pathologic features were identified- cartilage discolouration, cartilage fibrillation,cartilage ulceration, cartilage erosion, osteophytes, thickening of joint capsule, synovium discolouration and joint remodelling. The radiographic and gross pathologic total scores were positively correlated in each appendicular joint and the joint most likely to have cartilage damage without radiographic evidence of OA is the shoulder (71.1%, 64/90) followed by the elbow (39.1%, 9/23), hip (32.4%, 11/34), stifle (26.1%,6/23), carpal (23.1%, 21/91) and tarsal (14.9%, 7/47) joints. Four possible underlying conditions that lead to secondary OA were identified:- radioulnar incongruity, hip dysplasia (HD), cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) disease and primary meniscal mineralisation. The identification of PAR-2 and matriptase proteins and gene expression in feline
articular tissues is a novel and important finding supporting the hypothesis that serine proteases are involved in the articular cartilage degradation seen in feline OA.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: Feline, osteoarthritis, radiography, pathology
• Subjects: R Medicine > RB Pathology; R Medicine > RD Surgery; S Agriculture > SF Animal culture; S Agriculture > SF Animal culture > SF600 Veterinary Medicine
• Colleges/Schools: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine > Small Animal Clinical Sciences
• Supervisor's Name: Bennett, Professor David
• Date of Award: 2015
• Depositing User: Miss Siti Mariam Zainal Ariffin
• Unique ID: glathesis:2015-6188
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 24 Mar 2015 11:19
• Last Modified: 26 Mar 2015 14:37
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/6188