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Erschienen in:
01.02.2015 | Shoulder
Tendon quality in small unilateral supraspinatus tendon tears. Real-time sonoelastography correlates with clinical findings
Erschienen in: Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy | Ausgabe 2/2015
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Purpose
To investigate the feasibility of real-time sonoelastography in the assessment of the mechanical tendon properties in small unilateral supraspinatus tears, to describe the sonoelastographic properties of the torn supraspinatus tendons and to correlate real-time sonoelastography findings with clinical results and demographic data.
Methods
All the patients presenting for a unilateral rotator cuff tear were prospectively scrutinized. Clinical evaluation included complete physical examination, VAS, Quick DASH, Constant–Murley score, Simple Shoulder Test, ASES score and UCLA score. Radiological evaluation was performed with conventional ultrasounds and real-time sonoelastography; this is a noninvasive method that uses ultrasounds to evaluate the mechanical properties of tissues, reflecting their quality, that can be semi-quantitatively estimated using the strain index. During the enrolment period, 92 patients were scrutinized, and 50 were included in the study.
Results
A negative correlation between strain index and VAS for pain, a strong positive correlation between strain index and Constant–Murley score and ASES score were found. Comparable results were observed in male and female patients, but in males, we found a strong positive correlation also for Simple Shoulder Test and UCLA score.
Conclusions
Real-time sonoelastography was a feasible method applicable in the assessment of tendon quality in small supraspinatus tears, and its findings correlated with the clinical results of the patients. In day-by-day clinical practice, this information is very important because quality of tendons is one of the most important prognostic factors for surgeons performing rotator cuff repair.
Level of evidence
III.