CLINICAL AND PROGNOSTIC SIGNIFICANCE OF STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN KNEE JOINTS ACCORDING TO MRI AND ULTRASONIC DATA IN ELDERLY PATIENTS WITH OSTEOARTHRITIS AND DEGENERATIVE INJURIES OF THE MENISCUS

Treating of degenerative meniscus damage (DM) in elderly patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee joints (KJ) is an important problem of practical medicine. Goal: assessment of the relationship between magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound examination (US) in elderly patients with OA with degenerative PM and the results of conservative therapy and the need for surgical treatment. Material and methods. The work is based on the analysis of clinical examination data, MRI and ultrasound investigation of 56 patients with OA with degenerative PM grade 3 according to the Stoller classi†cation aged over 60 years, who at the †rst stage received complex conservative therapy for OA for 4-6 months. In 29 patients, due to the ine—ectiveness of conservative therapy, surgery with arthroscopic access was performed. Results. Of the 56 patients, clinical improvement was achieved in 27 (48.2%) patients during conservative therapy for PM for 4-6 months; the remaining patients required surgery. When assessing the degree of relationship between the dynamics of clinical indicators and the presence of structural changes, the greatest strength of the correlation was determined between the following indicators: the presence of subchondral bone marrow edema and VAS for pain at rest (r=0.72, p=0.012), VAS for pain during walking (r=0.68, p=0.011), and the total WOMAC index (r=0.58, p=0.026); the presence of synovitis and VAS pain during walking (r=0.55, p=0.028) and total WOMAC index (r=0.51, p=0.037); detection of crystal deposits and VAS pain at rest (r=0.53, p=0.036), VAS pain during walking (r=0.46, p=0.057) and total WOMAC index (r=0.49, p=0.034). Conclusion. Predictors of the ine—ectiveness of conservative therapy in elderly patients with OA with PM, requiring surgical intervention, were established.