Original Research Article
Year: 2020 | Month: January-March | Volume: 5 | Issue: 1 | Pages: 150-158
Role of MRI in Evaluation of Chronic Shoulder Pain
Shilpa Chudasama1, Daxa Khunt2
1Associate Professor, 2Resident
Department of Radiodiagnosis, Shri M.P. Shah Government Medical College and Shri Gurugobind Singh Government Hospital, Jamnagar.
Corresponding Author: Daxa Khunt
ABSTRACT
Objectives: - The objective of this study was to evaluate the causes of chronic shoulder pain using Magnetic resonance imaging with in depth evaluation of rotator cuff pathologies and to assess the usefulness and accuracy of MR imaging in rotator cuff pathologies, their characteristics and also evaluation of associated bony injuries or bony pathologies of shoulder joint, gleno-humeral joint instability and its correlation with surrounding rotator cuff pathology.
Materials and methods: - 150 patients presenting with chronic shoulder pain and other complaints like restriction of movement or recurrent dislocation of shoulder joint were assessed with 1.5 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging system using Axial T1WI, T2WI, PD fat sat; Coronal PD fat sat and STIR; Sagittal PD fat sat; Axial, coronal and sagittal-Contrast T1 Fat sat sequences.
Results: - The age distribution in our study was in range of 15 years to 70 years with maximum population within 45-54 year range.
- The majority of cases of chronic shoulder pain included rotator cuff injuries followed by biceps pathologies, acromio-clavicular arthritis, gleno-humeral instability, gleno-humeral arthritis and lastly miscellaneous conditions like tumors or cysts.
- The rotator cuff tears were more common in non-traumatic causes and supraspinatus was the most commonly involved tendon followed by subscapularis, infraspinatus and Teres minor in decreasing order of frequency.
- Type I and type II acromion morphology was most commonly observed. Anterior instability was most common type of gleno-humeral instability. Anterior instability was strongly associated with Hill-Sach’s and Bankart’s lesion.
Conclusions: - MRI is highly accurate and non-invasive modality for evaluating rotator cuff disorders like rotator cuff tendinopathy, partial tears, and complete tears because of multi-planar imaging and comprehensive display of soft tissue anatomy, unlike CT which has a limited role in the setting of soft tissue pathologies.
Keywords: Shoulder, Rotator cuff, Acromion, MRI