Original articleThe use of in-office, orthopaedist-performed ultrasound of the shoulder to evaluate and manage rotator cuff disorders
Section snippets
Materials and methods
Four hundred fifty-one consecutive bilateral shoulder sonograms in four hundred six patients were obtained over a 3-year period. Of these, 282 shoulders were treated surgically in 262 patients. The findings of these 282 ultrasounds, for which the results were verified at surgery, were included in the study. There were 173 shoulders in men and 109 shoulders in women with a mean age of 50.4 years (range, 15-84 years).
A single orthopaedic surgeon in a busy clinic performed all of the ultrasound
Results
Ultrasound findings in the 282 surgical cases included 104 full-thickness supraspinatus tears, 148 partial-thickness supraspinatus tears, 14 full-thickness subscapularis tears, 9 full-thickness tears of the supraspinatus and subscapularis, and 7 intact rotator cuffs. At surgery, 95 full-thickness supraspinatus tendon tears were confirmed, as were 143 partial-thickness tears, all 14 subscapularis tears, all 9 combined supraspinatus and subscapularis tears, and 6 intact rotator cuffs. One patient
Discussion
In the early 20th century, Codman7 recognized the devastating effects that rotator cuff tears have on the individual patient and society in general. He believed that suboptimal results were due primarily to the fact that patients rarely presented at the early stages of disease. Today, early recognition as well as management of rotator cuff tears remains important. This includes documentation of the tear, which is often required by the patient, surgeon, and third-party payer before planning and
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