Ultrasonography of the shoulder joint was investigated in 30 patients who had been suspected rotator cuff tear. In 26 patients, the sonographic fihdings were correlated with arthrography (sensitivity, 86%).
The sonographic appearance of the rotator coff tear, be could be classified into three, categories as thinning (15 patients), invisualization (8 patients), and discontinuity (3 patients) of the rotator cuff. Based on these results, ultrasonography is comparable with arthrography for evaluation of the rotator cuff, so we think that ultrasonography can be used as the intial imaging test for the rotator cuff tear.
