Role and Correlation of High Resolution Ultrasound and Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Evaluation of Shoulder Pain in the Elderly, AHMED M. GHANDOUR, ESSAM M. ABDULHAFIZ and SALEH A. HANAFY DOWIDAR
Abstract
Background: Soft tissue lesions are a common cause of pain and disability in elderly people, clinical examination alone has a limited value in deciding on the management options for the underlying etiology. Several studies have been done that evaluated the accuracy of either magnetic resonance imaging or high-resolution ultrasound in detection of shoulder disorders and only few studies compared these two methods. Aim of Study: To evaluate the role of high-resolution ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging in elderly patients with shoulder pain. Patients and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 22 patients (11 females and 11 males). Were presented with acute shoulder joint pain. The patients were aged from 60 to 70 years. Results: Overall, we were able to demonstrate performance values for musculoskeletal ultrasound in diagnosing the abnormalities of rotator cuff, biceps tendon, acromioclavicular joint, and glenohumeral joint compared to MRI to be 100% for sensitivity. Positive predictive value (PPV) was 100% for rotator cuff, biceps tendon, and glenohumeral joint disorders, while it was 96% for the abnormalities developed in the acromioclavicular joint. Finally, the accuracy was 98.4%, 100%, 96%, and 100% respectively for the abnormalities of rotator cuff, biceps tendon, acromioclavicular joint, and glenohumeral joint disorders, respectively. Conclusion: Ultrasound for the shoulder joint presents a high accuracy and sensitivity in diagnosis a wide spectrum of shoulder joint lesions, with a diagnostic performance value near to that of MRI. Furthermore, it is a real time investigation that can afford comparison information of the two joints. A wide availability, lower cost and better tolerability of ultra-sonography make it a modality of first choice for evaluation of rotator cuff tears. MRI can be reserved for patients with suspicious ultrasonography results.