Inflammation in osteoarthritis (OA): Review of its role in clinical picture, disease progress, subsets, and pathophysiology

Abstract

The most relevant pathology of the articular cartilage is osteoarthritis (OA), i.e. degenerative joint cartilage destruction. Other important conditions are osteochondrosis dissecans, a focal subchondral bone destructive process leading to focal cartilage defects, as well as crystallopathies, which affect the joints in particular. Inflammatory conditions originating mostly from the synovial membrane as well as developmental malformations (chondrodysplasias) are not discussed. Besides the considerations of pathogenetic events and the description of pathological changes taking place during the disease process, a major emphasis will be put on the outline and discussion of grading systems of cartilage degeneration and repair.