[Purpose]Ultrasonographic evaluation has been popular recently. But the Power Doppler technique is not so common in the orthopaedic field. We assessed the value of the Power Doppler in the evaluation of the rotator cuff.
[Materials and methods]108 shoulders of 54 patients were investigated with an Aloka SSD5000 and Toshiba Powervision 6000 which had the function of a Power Doppler. We checked the location of the small vessels around the rotator cuff.62 shoulders were normal. Rotator cuff tears were detected in 13shoulders.6 shoulders were postoperative shoulders of a rotator cuff tear. In addition, we investigated the small vessels of 6 shoulder joints in 3 cadavers macroscopicaly.
[Results]In the normal cases, small vessels were detected at the bicipital groove (102/108 joints), the greater tuberosity (68/108 joints) and the anterior edge of the acromion (85/108 joints). There was no vessel in the rotator cuff. In the postoperative cases, there were a lot of vessels around rotator cuff and in itself. We could detect more vessels in the patients who complained of pain at night. In the cadaver study, we found the small vessels at those 3 parts of the shoulder joint macroscopicaly.
[Conclusion]The Power Doppler is a reliable and useful technique to evaluate the vasculality of the rotator cuff.
