STUDY HISTOPATHOLOGICAL CHANGES IN THE ANTERIOR AND POSTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT AFTER KNEE REPLACEMENT: CORRELATIONS WITH VITAMIN D, CALCIUM AND C- REACTIVE PROTEIN IN IRAQI PATIENTS WITH OSTEOARTHRITIS

Abstract

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic disease and the most common arthritis forms which involving deterioration of articular cartilage. The present study is a case control study aimed to examine some histopathological change with knee OA patients and biochemical test in both patients and controls. Tissue samples anterior cruciate ligament and Posterior cruciate ligament (ACL, PCL) obtained from 50 knee OA patients (35 females and 15 males) during total knee replacement for histological study. Blood sample were obtained from 50 knee OA patients and 25 controls. The tissue sample and whole blood were collected during the period from October 2015 to June 2016. In the current study, there are many histopathological changes in knee OA tissues (ACL and PCL) such as congestion of blood vessels, edema, fibrocystic proliferation and infiltration of inflammatory cells. Likewise, the assessment of vitamin D revealed that there was significant difference (p < 0.05) between (Healthy or Patients). Although vitamin D concentration was lower in patients than controls but the difference was not statistically significant, but there is a significant difference in serum vitamin D concentration between male OA patient and female OA patient. Also, there was a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in serum Calcium concentration of males in patients group when compared with males in controls group. Calcium concentration showed no-significant difference between male and female in patients group. On the other hand, there was no significant difference in concentration of C- reactive protein (CRP) among all groups.