Grant: Project Grant

An abnormally formed hip joint (cam deformity) is a major cause of osteoarthritis (OA). Individuals may not experience any symptoms until OA is severe due to extensive cartilage loss and changes in underlying bone. A series of studies showed that the cam can lead to the development of OA if left untreated, thus strongly suggesting a causal relationship. Currently, the cam that causes pain is surgically removed to relieve the pain and treat the associated cartilage damage. Recent studies have demonstrated that surgical treatment leads to bone and cartilage changes that were related to improved function and reduced pain. As an extension of our original work, this study will allow us to gain a better understanding of the relationship between cartilage and bone changes. We will examine adults in the disease state that require surgical correction and compare to age-matched controls. We will look at the impact of surgical intervention through joint-specific biomarkers of OA, specifically the PET-MRI and blood biomarkers, which will allow us to simultaneously query cartilage and bone activity. We propose that the use of PET-MRI will give more sensitive and hip-specific information about the joint health compared to the blood biomarkers in patients with symptomatic cam morphology. Patients will undergo motion analysis and 3D modeling to help us better understand the disease process during the performance of specific activities and define joint contact mechanics as they relate to the PET-MRI imaging, validating a biomarker for early joint degeneration. This diagnostic tool will be extremely useful for younger individuals with a cam deformity who have not yet developed symptoms. In the future we could use this to detect early degeneration in adolescents to prevent and mitigate development of OA later on. This will also help us develop activity guidelines for people with smaller cam deformities in order to avoid surgery and prevent degeneration.