This site is targeted at medical and radiology professionals, contains user contributed content, and material that may be confusing to a lay audience. Use of this site implies acceptance of our Terms of Use.

Osteoarthritis hip : grading

Dr Yuranga Weerakkody and Dr Paresh K Desai et al.

Osteoarthritis of the hip can be graded according to severity on imaging.

Plain film grading

grade 0 : normal
grade 1 : possible joint space narrowing and subtle osteophytes
grade 2 : definite joint space narrowing, defined osteophytes and some sclerosis, especially in acetabular region
grade 3 : marked joint space narrowing, small osteophytes, some sclerosis and cyst formation and deformity of femoral head and acetabulum
grade 4 : Gross loss of joint space with above features plus large osteophytes and increased deformity of the femoral head and acetabulum

MRI grading

grade 0 : normal
grade 1 : inhomogeneous high signal intensity in cartilage (T2WI)
grade 2 : inhomogeneity with areas of high signal intensity in articular cartilage (T2WI); indistinct trabaculae or signal intensity loss in femoral head & neck (T1WI)
grade 3 : criteria of Stage 1 & 2 plus indistinct zone between femoral head & acetabulum; subchondral signal loss due to bone sclerosis
grade 4 : above criteria plus femoral head deformity

References

This article is in need of some more references!
You can make a difference to Radiopaedia.org by adding some relevant ones.
1. Li KC, Higgs J, Aisen AM et-al. MRI in osteoarthritis of the hip: gradations of severity. Magn Reson Imaging. 6 (3): 229-36. - Pubmed citation
2. "Atlas of standard radiographs of arthritis" Unesco and WHO PDF