Can you please explain how to distinguish b/n knee OA & knee RA by radiography? Helpful if supported by images.
DD b/n knee OA & knee RA radiographycally?
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Most of the time you can probably see it on a regular radiograph. Unfortunately I don't have any images off hand. But here is my 2 cents..There is a bit of overlap, it is not easy to differentiate. A lot of radiologists have trouble seeing the difference too. You have to look for erosions. In RA, hands will typically accompany knees in arthritic degeneration, you should look for stigmata in hands. RA without appendicular involvement is much more common in kids, however still rare. In women presence of simple knee and no hands can be indicative of a different disease in women. By radiograph, there are way too many varying factors in my opinion, a MR may help more since it can differentiate the effct of articular cartilage in different ways between OA and RA. RA can result in secondary OA and is typically erosive in nature. If they give you the rheumatoid factor/serology may be helpful.necessary. While I doubt they will test you on this on step 1, some more futuristic bio marker/molecular imaging may be necessary, but often it is not available except in academics and is typically not reimbursable. Actual radiograph identification is way to difficult in my opinion, it really takes a very trained eye to see the difference, so relying on history however less exacting in some ways is easier for a medical student.
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