Former male young athletes partially lost benefits in BMD (g/cm 2 ) with cessation of exercise, but, despite this, had a higher BMD 4 years after cessation of career than a control group. A higher BMD might contribute to the lower incidence of fragility fractures found in former older athletes у60 years of age compared with a control group. Introduction: Physical activity increases peak bone mass and may prevent osteoporosis if a residual high BMD is retained into old age. Materials and Methods: BMD was measured by DXA in 97 male young athletes 21.0 ± 4.5 years of age (SD) and 48 controls 22.4 ± 6.3 years of age, with measurements repeated 5 years later, when 55 of the athletes had retired from sports. In a second, older cohort, fracture incidence was recorded in 400 former older athletes and 800 controls ജ60 years of age. Results: At baseline, the young athletes had higher BMD than controls in total body (mean difference, 0.08 g/cm

Objective. To examine the glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content in cartilage and that in synovial fluid and determine whether they are associated, in patients with an acute anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.Methods. Twenty-four patients (14 of whom were male) with a mean age of 27 years (range 17-40 years) were assessed with delayed gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of cartilage an average of 3 weeks after an ACL rupture and compared with 24 healthy volunteers. Two hours after an intravenous injection of Gd-DTPA 2؊ (0.3 mmoles/kg body weight), quantitative measurements of the T1 relaxation time (T1 Gd [T1 relaxation time in the presence of Gd-DTPA]) were made in lateral and medial femoral weight-bearing cartilage. In the patients, synovial fluid was aspirated immediately before the MRI, and GAG was analyzed using dye precipitation with Alcian blue.Results. Fifteen of the 24 patients had an isolated bone bruise in the lateral femoral condyle, where the cartilage T1 Gd was shorter than that in the controls (mean ؎ SD 385 ؎ 83 msec and 445 ؎ 41 msec, respectively; P ‫؍‬ 0.004), consistent with decreased GAG content. However, the T1 Gd was also decreased in the medial femoral cartilage, where bone bruises were rare (376 ؎ 76 msec in patients versus 428 ؎ 38 msec in controls; P ‫؍‬ 0.006). The mean ؎ SD synovial fluid GAG concentration in patients was 157 ؎ 86 g/ml and showed a positive correlation with the T1 Gd (r ‫؍‬ 0.49, P ‫؍‬ 0.02).Conclusion. This study indicates that an ACL injury causes posttraumatic edema of the lateral femoral cartilage but initializes a generalized biochemical change within the knee that leads to GAG loss from both lateral and medial femoral cartilage. In cartilage with a high GAG content (long T1 Gd ), more GAG is released into the synovial fluid, suggesting that cartilage quality is a factor to consider when interpreting cartilage biomarkers of metabolism.

Objective. To examine the predictive value of the delayed gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of cartilage (dGEMRIC) index with regard to future radiographic osteoarthritis (OA).Methods. In 1998, 17 knees in 11 men and 4 women with knee pain, normal results of weight-bearing radiography, and arthroscopic cartilage changes ranging from superficial fibrillation to fissuring and softening were examined using dGEMRIC. Six years later, 16 of the 17 knees were reassessed for radiographic OA changes.Results. At followup, 9 of the 16 knees showed radiographic OA changes. Two of them had undergone a knee joint replacement due to OA. In the knees with radiographic OA, the dGEMRIC index at baseline was lower than that in the knees without radiographic OA (P ‫؍‬ 0.03).Conclusion. The results of the present study support the dGEMRIC index as a clinically relevant measure of cartilage integrity and suggest that a low index may be predictive of the development of knee OA.

This 8-year controlled, follow-up study in 66 Swedish soccer women evaluated the effect of training and reduced training on BMD. The players who retired during the follow-up lost BMD in the femoral neck, whereas the controls did not.Introduction: Physical activity during adolescence increases BMD, but whether the benefits are retained with reduced activity is controversial. Materials and Methods: At baseline, DXA evaluated BMD in 48 active female soccer players with a mean age of 18.2 ± 4.4 (SD) years, in 18 former female soccer players with a mean age of 43.2 ± 6.2 years and retired for a mean of 9.4 ± 5.3 years, and in 64 age-and sex-matched controls. The soccer women were remeasured after a mean of 8.0 ± 0.3 years, when 35 of the players active at baseline had been retired for a mean of 5.3 ± 1.6 years. Results and Conclusions:The players still active at follow-up had a higher BMD at baseline than the matched controls in the femoral neck (FN; 1.13 ± 0.19 versus 1.00 ± 0.13 g/cm

Alcohol abuse is associated with an increased risk of osteopenia and fractures. Previous histomorphometric studies on iliac crest bone have found decreased bone formation and increased bone resorption in alcohol abusers but it has not been established whether alcohol abuse has any effect on the anatomical location or the healing time of tibial shaft fractures. We studied, retrospectively, 199 adult male patients hospitalized for isolated tibial shaft fracture in the city of Malmö, Sweden, between 1980 and 1990. Forty-nine of the patients had earlier been registered at the Department of Alcohol Diseases and were judged to be problem drinkers. Abusers sustained their tibial shaft fractures more often by falling at ground level (P < 0.0001) or from a higher level (P = 0.009) and the fractures were more often oblique than transverse (P = 0.002) as compared with non-abusers. Healing time was impaired in abusers who had sustained a transverse fracture (P = 0.035), but no difference was observed in healing time in those with a oblique fracture. We found no difference between the abusers and the non-abusers regarding duration of hospital stay, fracture location, amount of displacement, occurrence of open fractures or the rate of complications.