[Ultrasonography of the shoulder in subacromial syndromes with disorders and injuries of the rotator cuff]

Abstract

Shoulder sonography was performed prospectively in 4172 patients with 4588 shoulders affected with pathology of the subacromial space, among them 1227 operated cases with 425 rotator cuff tears (292 total tears and 133 partial tears). A two-criterion model with formal as well as echogenic and dynamic criteria was used for the diagnosis of cuff tears. The overall sensitivity in diagnosing rotator cuff tears was 95.3% (97.3% in total tears and 91.0% in partial tears). False-negative results were found overall in 1.6% of cases. Overall accuracy for all defects was 94.9%. Involvement of the supraspinatus tendon was found in 95.8%, of the infraspinatus in 39.3% and of the subscapularis in 10.1%. In 33.6% of cases, involvement of the long head of biceps was found. It was clearly correlated with the size of the tears: 25.9% in isolated supraspinatus tears and 68.8% in three-tendon tears of subscapularis, supraspinatus and infraspinatus. Differentiation between fresh, traumatic tears and degenerative tears is possible by means of measuring retraction, determining the length of the distal cuff stump and by formal criteria of the stump configuration as well as by bursal criteria. Differentiation of old tears of suspected traumatic origin from those with degenerative causes is impossible.