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Diagnostics
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Diagnosis and Management of Musculoskeletal Diseases
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Diagnosis and Management of Musculoskeletal Diseases

A special issue of Diagnostics (ISSN 2075-4418). This special issue belongs to the section "Pathology and Molecular Diagnostics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 1658

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Kavithalakshmi Sataranatarajan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Pathology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75235, USA
Interests: laboratory medicine; clinical chemistry; aging
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue on musculoskeletal diseases explores their pathogenesis, emphasizing genetic predispositions, environmental factors, and lifestyle choices in disease onset. It details advances in pathological diagnosis, including high-resolution imaging, muscle biopsy, biomarkers, and genetic testing. The integration of clinical, imaging, and pathological findings is crucial for accurate diagnosis and tailored management plans. Multidisciplinary collaboration among specialists is highlighted to improve patient outcomes and quality of life. We have the pleasure to invite you to submit your work to this Special Issue. Original research articles, reviews, short communications, and interesting images are welcome, as well as either clinical or basic research. All papers will be fully open access upon publication after peer review.

Dr. Kavithalakshmi Sataranatarajan
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diagnostics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • musculoskeletal diseases
  • pathological diagnosis
  • high-resolution imaging
  • muscle biopsy
  • biomarkers
  • genetic testing

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 2204 KiB  
Article
Skeletal Maturity in Adolescence: Evaluating Bone Development and Age Metrics
by João Pinheiro, Luís Ribeiro, Diana Teixeira, Anabela Ribeiro and Manuel João Coelho-e-Silva
Diagnostics 2025, 15(8), 970; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics15080970 - 10 Apr 2025
Viewed by 281
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Bone maturation and development are crucial for growth and development, especially in children and adolescents; however, some qualitative methods, such as Greulich & Pyle, do not provide accurate data. Our aim is to verify whether skeletal age (SA) can predict and [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Bone maturation and development are crucial for growth and development, especially in children and adolescents; however, some qualitative methods, such as Greulich & Pyle, do not provide accurate data. Our aim is to verify whether skeletal age (SA) can predict and correlate with bone mineral content (BMC), bone mineral density (BMD), and body composition (BC). Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 115 male adolescents (ages 12.1–15.8 years). Skeletal age was assessed using the Tanner–Whitehouse 3 (TW3) method, while BMC, BMD, and BC were measured using full-body DXA. Anthropometric data, including height and body mass, were also recorded. Statistical analysis included descriptive methods and bivariate correlation coefficients. Results: SA was significantly correlated with stature (r = 0.598, p = 0.001) and body mass (r = 0.517, p = 0.001), showing a stronger association than chronological age (CA) for these variables. Body composition variables, including lean mass (LM) (r = 0.521, p = 0.001) and fat tissue (FT) (r = 0.522, p = 0.001), also showed a stronger correlation with SA than CA. However, associations between SA and bone parameters were weaker: BMC (r = 0.103, p = 0.275) and BMD (r = 0.161, p = 0.086) did not reach statistical significance. When stratified by SA/CA tertiles, individuals in the highest tertile exhibited slightly greater BMC (1439 ± 108.32 g) and BMD (1.028 ± 0.127 g/cm2), though without a significant effect. These findings suggest a dynamic but complex relationship between skeletal age and bone development. Conclusions: SA demonstrates a stronger association with anthropometric and body composition variables than CA, highlighting its potential as a predictor of growth used in conjunction with LM and FM. However, its relationship with BMD and BMC remains inconclusive, warranting further longitudinal research, considering limitations regarding nutritional intake. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diagnosis and Management of Musculoskeletal Diseases)
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11 pages, 486 KiB  
Article
Are Extracorporeal Shock Waves Just a Therapeutic Tool?
by Bernardo Gialanella, Laura Comini, Gian Pietro Bonometti, Fabio Vanoglio, Andrea Bettinsoli, Raffaele Santoro, Adriana Olivares and Alberto Luisa
Diagnostics 2024, 14(21), 2440; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics14212440 - 31 Oct 2024
Viewed by 993
Abstract
Background: Focused extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) has been successfully used to treat musculoskeletal conditions, but ESWT stimulates nociceptors, causing pain deep in the tissue during treatment. The occurrence of pain during ESWT is a side effect, but it can help identify painful [...] Read more.
Background: Focused extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) has been successfully used to treat musculoskeletal conditions, but ESWT stimulates nociceptors, causing pain deep in the tissue during treatment. The occurrence of pain during ESWT is a side effect, but it can help identify painful sites and assess minimum (MiTI) and maximum (MaTI) pain thresholds to ESWT pressure stimuli. This topic has received limited attention in literature. Methods: This observational study describes a specific approach to using ESWT to study pain in 71 patients. The approach proposes moving the ESWT transducer head of the device over the entire joint surface, progressively increasing the energy level until the patient experiences pain. Results: In the study, MiTI and MaTI were 0.218 ± 0.090 and 0.416 ± 0.165 mJ/mm2 in the affected joint and 0.282 ± 0.128 and 0.501 ± 0.174 mJ/mm2 in the contralateral homologous healthy joint, being significantly lower in the affected joint (MiTI: p < 0.001 and MaTI: p = 0.003, respectively). ESWT induced pain in 94.37% of the sites with the highest subjective pain and in a greater number of sites (204) than digital pressure (123) (p < 0.001). All sites with digital pressure pain also had ESWT pain. Conclusions: These results suggest that the ESWT device may be useful in investigating pain in musculoskeletal conditions and tailoring therapy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diagnosis and Management of Musculoskeletal Diseases)
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