ABSTRACT
Osteoarthritis (OA), a degenerative disease of the joint, is loosely divided into dierent groups based on the joints involved. e form which includes multiple joints, hands, knees, hips, and spine, is considered to be hereditary; the form which includes only peripheral joints or a single joint such as knee or hip is not considered to be hereditary [1-4]. OA can be primary, purely degenerative, or secondary, typically to trauma, rheumatoid arthritis, or to infection [3]. In this chapter, we will concentrate on degenerative joint disease. Since many of the histopathological changes and other disease features in OA are similar in dierent joints; for the sake of simplicity, we will concentrate on the knee joint.
