European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Dynamic evaluation of high resolution ultrasound is non invasive and no radiation. The real time nature of sonography requires personal interaction with the patient, often resulting in a more directed examination specific for each individual. The aim of this study was to assess the role of high resolution ultrasound in rotator cuff tears.
Materials and Methods: This is a hospital based cross sectional study in which all patients referred to the department of Radio Diagnosis (Chettinad health city) with clinically suspected rotator cuff injuries in a period of January 2015 – May 2016 were assesed. 30 patients referred to the department of Radio Diagnosis (Chettinad health city) with clinically suspected rotator cuff injuries in a period of 2 years were included according to the inclusion criteria.
Results: In our study, most of the patients with rotator cuff injuries presented with shoulder pain (46.7%), followed by decreased range of shoulder movements (26.7%), shoulder pain and stiffness (13.3%), stiffness (10%) and shoulder pain and weakness (3.3%). In our study USG had a sensitivity of 63%, specificity of 82%, PPV of 100%, NPV of 33.5%, diagnostic accuracy of 68% and kappa degree of agreement of 0.34. These results suggest that USG is less reliable in detecting rotator cuff tears than previously reported and a positive sonographic reading is more reliable than a negative one.
Conclusion: No single test had both a high specificity and a high sensitivity, therefore diagnostic accuracy of shoulder examination is overestimated, and that these exams are only rarely useful to differentiate rotator cuff tears. USG is less reliable in detecting rotator cuff tears than previously reported and a positive sonographic reading is more reliable than a negative one.