The subchondral bone plate.

Pauwels (1965) and subsequent workers in the same field have shown that the distribution of the subchondral density within a joint surface can serve as a parametric measurement which reflects the main stress acting on a joint. Our own investigations on anatomical specimens have demonstrated that this subchondral mineralization does indeed show regular distribution patterns from which conclusions about the mechanical situation within an individual joint may be drawn. Since radiographical densitometry and histological methods are only available for determining the adaptive reaction of the bone to the particular mechanical situation in a joint after death, the information obtained applies only to an end situation and tells us nothing about the development of the changes with time. Furthermore, investigations carried out on human specimens by radiographical densitometry mostly apply to samples of a particular age, since such specimens can be acquired only from departments of pathology, forensic medicine or anatomy. The functional reactions of the bone tissue to repeated long-term changes in the loading--lengthy immobilization and subsequent remobilization, for instance, or heavy loading over a considerable period of time--cannot be followed by any ordinary method in experimental animals, since the death of the animal is a prerequisite for the precise quantitative examination of the bone tissue. This applies also to attempts to follow the process by means of animal experiments. CT OAM has been developed as a method which, based on CT, can provide a surface representation of the 3-D density distribution in the joints of living subjects. Comparative studies were carried out to establish and confirm the validity of the procedure. These have shown (1) that the results obtained from anatomical specimens are identical with those obtained in the living; (2) that secondary CT sections are suitable for evaluation and that the spectrum of joint surfaces examined can be extended to include the whole joint (if this were not so, effects caused by the apparatus--particularly the partial-volume effect--would render the procedure impossible); and finally (3) that the distribution of the Hounsfield density within the subchondral bone represents the distribution of the mineralization. The mineralization patterns found by us in different joints of normal subjects have shown that these patterns can be brought into line with current models of joint mechanics. The radiocarpal joint, for instance, has revealed the various types of loading occurring within physiological limits. Information has also been obtained about the age-related changes taking place in the hip, wrist and ankle joints. The increase of the total mineralization in gymnasts can be related to the qualitative and quantitative adaptation to an increased peak loading, and reduced mineralization to a lengthy reduction in use during, for instance, postoperative immobilization. In groups of patients with various diseases of mechanical origin (shoulder instability, malalignment of the main axis, defective repositioning of healed fractures, rupture of the rotator cuff, meniscectomy or rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament), a pattern of mineralization is found which is different from the normal picture. These findings reflect the abnormal mechanical situation. The mineralization pattern of the femoropatellar joint has revealed the differing etiologies of medial and lateral cartilage damage and the examination of patients with lunatomalacia has made it possible to recognize a genetic disposition. The postoperative comparison of the mineralization patterns of patients with genu varum who have undergone a correction osteotomy and the results of animal experiments on various procedures for reconstructing the anterior cruciate ligament or a primary replacement of the meniscus, have produced results which make it possible to judge the success or failure of the operation. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED)