A comparison of radiographic, arthroscopic and histological measures of articular pathology in the canine elbow joint.

Validation of radiographic and arthroscopic scoring of joint pathology requires their comparison with histological measures of disease from the same joint. Fragmentation of the medial coronoid process (FMCP) is a naturally occurring disease of the canine elbow joint that results in osteoarthritis, and the objectives of this study were to compare the severity of histopathological changes in the medial coronoid process (MCP) and medial articular synovial membrane with gross radiographic scoring of elbow joint osteophytosis and the arthroscopic assessment of the MCP articular cartilage surface. Radiographic scoring of osteophytosis and the arthroscopic scoring of visual cartilage pathology of the MCP correlated moderately well with the histopathological evaluation of cartilage damage on the MCP and synovial inflammation in the medial part of the joint, but not with bone pathology in the MCP. Marked cartilage pathology on the MCP was identified in joints with either no radiographic evidence of osteophytosis or with mild cartilage damage that was evident arthroscopically.