Abstract
The usefulness of ultrasonography in the diagnosis of incomplete tears of the rotator cuff is still controversial. We examined 16 patients (14 males and 2 females) with incomplete tears by ultrasonography and compared those images with our operative findings. Six patients had bursal side tears,9 had articular side tears and 1 had an intratendinous tear. We used a 7.5MHz linear scanner for the ultrasonographic examinations.
Ten patients were diagnosed by US: 3 cases had bursal side tears and 7 cases had articular side tears. We could not distinguish between an articular side tear and a small complete tear because of the presence of a wide hypoechoic area. In the 3 patients with a bursal side tear, it was difficult to diagnose the lesion correctly because the bursa was thick and degenerated. A patient with an intratendinous tear was misdiagnosed as having a degenerative change. We noted that tears bebame more difficult to diagnose as the patients aged. Based on these results, we think US is useful for screening patients with incomplete tears of the rotator cuff.
