A histomorphometric analysis of patellae from necropsies on persons between the third and tenth decades of life was carried out to trace the natural history of osteoarthritis.
Minutiae of the histological changes in the surface and basilar portions of the articular cartilage were developed as criteria for the quantitation. A total of 99 patellas were harvested in the stated age range. The present study reports the results of ten grossly and radiologically normal specimens from subjects 23-32 years old served as controls.
None of the control patellae were entirely histologically normal. Abnormality of the cartilage surface did not consistently proceed remodeling at the attachment to the subchondral plate.
This observation throws into question the concept that osteoarthritis has a single histogenesis or always arises in articular cartilage.