Summary

Our study results suggests that MRI has reasonable high sensitivity, specificity and accuracy in diagnosing Rotator cuff tears in correlation to Arthroscopy

Abstract

Introduction

Shoulder pain can cause significant pain, discomfort and reduce the ability to perform activities of daily living, thus making it the third most common cause of musculoskeletal consultation. The current gold standard diagnostic investigation is arthroscopy. MRI is a proved sensitive and accurate non-invasive tool in investigating shoulder pathology, but false and misleading results are equally reported. The aim of the study is to compare the efficacy of MRI in diagnosing rotator cuff tears in comparison to arthroscopy, considering arthroscopy as the gold standard.

Materials And Methods

Our study included 75 patients, between 20 to 86 years of age, presenting with shoulder pain or instability of more than 6 weeks, or with clinical signs of impingement or partial/complete rotator cuff tear were included in the study. MRI of the shoulder joint was done followed by shoulder arthroscopy. The data collected was analysed for the significant correlation between MRI of the shoulder and arthroscopic findings by kappa statistics.

Results

The sensitivity and specificity of MRI in full thickness supraspinatus tears is 79.6% and 84.6% respectively with Kappa value 0.609 and p value <0.001. The sensitivity and specificity of MRI in supraspinatus partial articular surface tears is 80.0% and 83.6% respectively with Kappa value 0.589 and p value is <0.01. The sensitivity and specificity of MRI in full thickness infraspinatus tears is 100 % and 93.8% respectively with Kappa value 0.803 and p value is <0.001. The sensitivity and specificity of MRI in partial thickness tears of infraspinatus is 55.6% and 100% respectively with Kappa value is 0.687 and p value <0.001. The sensitivity and specificity of MRI in the detection of subscapularis tears is 100% and 93.8% respectively with Kappa value 0.815 and p<0.001.

Conclusion

Our study results suggests that MRI has reasonable high sensitivity, specificity and accuracy in diagnosing rotator cuff tears in correlation to Arthroscopy. The present study supports that MRI is effective in diagnosing and preoperative evaluation of Rotator cuff tears.