Epidemiology should not be forgotten in osteoarthritis imaging

We read with interest the article by Hayashi et al. 20111. In their review titled a??Osteoarthritis year 2010 in review: imaginga??, a major focus of criticism was the choice of magnetic resonance (MR) pulse sequences for imaging of joints. Indeed, in their summary they suggest that a??the peer-review process of osteoarthritis (OA) imaging in any journal should involve musculoskeletal radiologists experienced in OA research to ensure the publication of papers with scientifically sound contentsa??. This is an interesting notion and, if valid, should it be extended to imaging in all areas of rheumatology research? One may argue that there are no specific complexities that relate to OA that would not also be present in other diseases, such as rheumatoid or psoriatic arthritis or even more broadly to musculoskeletal research. Also, by extension, perhaps all biomarker work should be assessed by a biochemist and all joint mechanics by a biomechanist?