A systematic approach for diagnosing subscapularis tendon tears with preoperative magnetic resonance imaging scans

Abstract

Purpose: To determine and propose a systematic approach to evaluating magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans for subscapularis tears and compares preoperative MRI interpretations with findings of the same shoulders at arthroscopy.

Methods: The study was composed of 202 patients who underwent shoulder arthroscopy by 1 of 5 orthopaedic surgeons during a 3-month period. All patients had MRI scans performed within 6 months before arthroscopy.

Results: Of the 202 patients, 82 had subscapularis tendon tears confirmed at the time of arthroscopy. The orthopaedic surgeons correctly diagnosed 60 of 82 patients (73%) with subscapularis tendon tears on preoperative MRI that were subsequently identified by arthroscopy. The orthopaedic surgeons correctly diagnosed 113 of 120 patients (94%) as not having subscapularis tendon tears. This resulted in an overall sensitivity of 73%, specificity of 94%, positive predictive value of 90%, negative predictive value of 84%, and accuracy of 86%. The frequency of subscapularis tears was highest when the long head of the biceps was displaced from the groove (88%), a combined supraspinatus/infraspinatus tear existed (71%), or the long head of the biceps tendon was torn (69%).

Conclusions: Preoperative MRI scans of the shoulder interpreted by orthopaedic surgeons with the described systematic approach resulted in improved accuracy in diagnosing subscapularis tendon tears compared with previous studies. A consistent finding is that larger subscapularis tendon tears are more easily detected using MRI scans whereas smaller tears are more frequently missed.

Level of evidence: Level III, development of diagnostic criteria with universally applied reference (nonconsecutive patients).