Mylène Jansen

258 Chapter 13 subscales (pain, function and stiffness) was analyzed in separate models as well. In all cases, a p- value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results Patients All 20 patients were treated successfully; their characteristics are summarized in Table 1. Table 1 : Patient characteristics KJD patients (n=20) Age (years) 48.5 (5.7) BMI (kg/m 2 ) 29.6 (3.5) Male sex, n (%) 11 (55) Kellgren- Lawrence grade, n (%) - Grade 0 - Grade 1 - Grade 2 - Grade 3 - Grade 4 0 (0) 1 (5) 3 (15) 15 (75) 1 (5) Medial MAC, n (%) 18 (90) Mean and standard deviation or n (%) are given. BMI: body mass index; KJD: knee joint distraction; MAC: most affected compartment. No patients were lost to follow-up in the first 2 years. Between 2 and 5 years of follow-up, 3 patients were lost: 1 patient underwent a TKA; 2 patients underwent arthroscopy. Between 5 and 7 years, 5 patients were lost: 4 underwent TKA surgery; 1 refused further follow-up. Between 7 and 10 years, 4 patients were lost, all because of TKA surgery. Whole-joint changes The average cartilage thickness for the femur and the (medial and lateral) tibia of the 18 patients with a medial MAC are shown in Figure 1. The cartilage on the medial side of both the femur and tibia was thinner than the lateral side, as indicated by the red versus green-blue color. One and 2 years post-treatment, the cartilage in the medial weight-bearing region was on average thicker than pre-treatment (diminishing red intensity). Effects were clear at both the femur and tibia. After 2 years, the average medial cartilage thickness seemed to gradually decrease, though even at 10 years this did not yet seem lower than before treatment. On the lateral side, the cartilage thickness seemed to increase as well, especially long-term (increasing blue intensity). The average cartilage results for the 2 patients with a lateral MAC are shown in Supplementary Figure S2; these patients showed similar results, with the biggest changes seen on the lateral side of the joint.