The relationship between quadriceps femoris thickness measured by US and femoral cartilage thickness in knee osteoarthritis, its effect on radiographic stage and clinical parameters: comparison with healthy young population.

Objective: In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between quadriceps muscle thickness and femoral cartilage thickness measured by ultrasonography (US) in knee osteoarthritis (OA), to correlate this relationship with radiographic stage and clinical parameters, and to compare these values with those in healthy young adults. Methods: A total of 71 patients with knee osteoarthritis and 31 healthy young adults were included in the study. Patients with knee osteoarthritis (Group 1) and healthy young adults (Group 2) were divided into two groups. Muscle thickness measurements of the quadriceps femoris muscle (M. vastus intermedius + M. rectus femoris) were performed by US. Results: Bilateral quadriceps muscle thickness and bilateral femoral cartilage thickness values were significantly lower in Group 1 than in Group 2. The 10-metre walk test score and Time Up and Go (TUG) test score were significantly higher in Group 1 than in Group 2. A strong positive correlation was found between bilateral quadriceps (RF+VI) muscle thickness and bilateral femoral cartilage thickness (medial, intercondylar, lateral) in Group 1. Conclusions: This study showed a strong positive correlation between quadriceps thickness and femoral cartilage thickness. According to these results, we conclude that US may have a place in the diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis.

Assessment of quality of life in relation to spasticity severity and socio-demographic and clinical factors among patients with spinal cord injury.

Objective: To assess the impact of spasticity severity as well as socio-demographic and clinical factors on quality of life (QOL) and to identify factors predicting poor QOL among patients with spinal cord injury (SCI)Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study.Setting: Tertiary care clinic in Istanbul, Turkey.Participants: A total of 110 patients with SCI (mean (SD) age: 43.8 (14.7) years, 58.2% were males) were enrolled.Assessments: The American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Impairment Scale (AIS), Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) and Turkish version of the World Health Organization Quality of life questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF) were utilized to determine the SCI category, severity of spasticity and QOL scores, respectively.Outcome measures: The WHOQOL-BREF scores were evaluated with respect to the severity of spasticity, aetiology and duration of SCI, AIS category and method of bladder management.Results: The mean (SD) physical health (41.9 (15.3) vs. 46.5 (10.9), P = 0.029), social relationships (45.6 (20.2) vs. 53.8 (17.3), P = 0.025) and total WHOQOL-BREF scores were significantly lower in patients with more severe spasticity. Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that severity of spasticity was a significant predictor of decreased WHOQOL-BREF total scores, physical domain scores and social relations domain scores by 11.381 (P = 0.007), 11.518 (P = 0.005) and 17. 965 (P = 0.004), respectively.Conclusion: In conclusion, addressing QOL in relation to severity of spasticity for the first time among Turkish SCI patients, our findings revealed a negative impact of the spasticity severity on the WHOQOL-BREF scores, particularly for physical health and social relationship domains.