Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most frequent form of arthritis with major implications on both individual and public health care levels. The field of joint imaging, and particularly magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), has evolved rapidly due to the application of technical advances to the field of clinical research. This narrative review will provide an introduction to the different aspects of OA imaging aimed at an audience of scientists, clinicians, students, industry employees, and others who are interested in OA but who do not necessarily focus on OA. The current role of radiography and recent advances in measuring joint space width will be discussed. The status of cartilage morphology assessment and evaluation of cartilage biochemical composition will be presented. Advances in quantitative three-dimensional morphologic cartilage assessment and semi-quantitative whole-organ assessment of OA will be reviewed. Although MRI has evolved as the most important imaging method used in OA research, other modalities such as ultrasound, computed tomography, and metabolic imaging play a complementary role and will also be discussed.

骨关节炎 (OA) 是最常见的关节炎形式，对个人和公共医疗保健水平都有重大影响。由于技术进步在临床研究领域的应用，关节成像领域，尤其是磁共振成像 (MRI) 领域发展迅速。这篇叙述性综述将介绍 OA 成像的不同方面，目标受众是科学家、临床医生、学生、行业员工和其他对 OA 感兴趣但不一定关注 OA 的人。将讨论射线照相术的当前作用和测量关节间隙宽度的最新进展。将介绍软骨形态评估和软骨生化成分评估的现状。将回顾定量三维形态软骨评估和半定量全器官OA评估的进展。尽管 MRI 已发展成为 OA 研究中最重要的成像方法，但其他方式如超声、计算机断层扫描和代谢成像也发挥着补充作用，也将进行讨论。