As per the American College of Rheumatology, in patients with OA and meniscal tear, the presence or persistence of effusion-synovitis can be connected with the progression of cartilage damage. This study depicted that patients with persistently extensive effusion-synovitis have a higher risk of cartilage damage depth progression than those patients who had persistently minimal effusion-synovitis.

Synovitis is a common characteristic of meniscal tear and knee osteoarthritis (OA). It involves breakage/damage of articular cartilage. This study investigated the associations between baseline and changes in cartilage damage and effusion-synovitis in meniscal tear and OA population.

The data for the treatment of meniscal tear was analysed from the Meniscal Tear in Osteoarthritis Research (MeTeOR) trial of surgery vs physical therapy. Semiquantitative grading of effusion-synovitis and cartilage damage on MRI and dichotomized effusion-synovitis as none/small ('minimal') and medium/large ('extensive') grading was executed. Poisson regression models were used to assess the relationship between baseline and changes in cartilage damage size and depth and changes in effusion-synovitis over 18 months. Adjustment in analyses was carried out for treatment,  demographics and baseline cartilage damage.

A total of 221 participants were analysed over a period of 18 months. Effusion-synovitis was persistently minimal in 45.3% and persistently extensive/widespread in 21.3% participants. Minimal synovitis on one time and extensive/widespread on the other was noted in the remaining 33.5% participants. Extensive effusion-synovitis at baseline was linked to a relative risk (RR) of 1.7 (95% CI 1.1, 2.6) for the progression of cartilage damage depth in adjusted analyses. Compared to those with persistently minimal effusion-synovitis, a relatively increased risk of progression of cartilage damage depth (RR 2.0 95% CI 1.1, 3.4) was noticed in participants with persistently extensive effusion-synovitis.

The presence of extensive effusion-synovitis was found to be linked to subsequent advancement of cartilage damage over a period of 18 months. Persistence of extensive effusion-synovitis over time was associated with the most significant risk of concurrent cartilage damage progression.