The value of percutaneous ultrasound-guided subacromial bursography in the diagnosis of rotator cuff tears

Abstract

Abstract Purpose To determine the feasibility and diagnostic value of percutaneous ultrasound-guided subacromial bursography (PUSB) in the diagnosis of rotator cuff tears. Methods Between July 2019 to October 2021, 78 patients who had suspected rotator cuff injury and who were admitted to the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University were selected, including 32 males and 46 females, aged 31–70 years (mean age 53.9 ± 9.1 years), with a course of 1D-2 years. The MRI, US and PUSB images of patients were retrospectively analyzed to obtain the diagnostic and predictive indexes (sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy) of these three methods for different rotator cuff tears types (full-thickness tears, partial-thickness tears and no tears of rotator cuff ). With the results of shoulder arthroscopy serving as the standard, PUSB results were compared with MRI and US results using the X2 -test (α = 0.05, two-sided). Results In all 78 patients, the overall accuracy of MRI, US, and PUSB in diagnosing rotator cuff tears was 82.1% (64/78), 75.6% (59/78) and 96.2% (75/78), respectively (P < 0.001). Among 21 patients with full-thickness tears, the numbers of cases correctly diagnosed by MRI, US and PUSB were 19, 19 and 21, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of MRI, US and PUSB in diagnosing full-thickness tears were 90.5%, 90.5%, 100% and 98.2%, 93.0%, 100%, respectively. The diagnostic accuracies of full-thickness rotator cuff tears were 90.5%, 90.5% and 100%, respectively, with no statistical difference (P = 0.344). Among 42 patients with partial-thickness tears, the numbers of patients whose cases were correctly diagnosed on MRI, US and PUSB were 32, 27 and 40, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of MRI, US and PUSB in diagnosing partial-thickness tears were 76.2%, 64.3%, and 95.2% and 88.9%, 88.9%, and 97.2%, respectively. The diagnostic accuracies of partial-thickness rotator cuff tears were 76.2% (32/42), 64.3% (27/42) and 95.2% (40/42), respectively (P＜0.05). Among the 15 patients without tears, the numbers of misdiagnosed cases by MRI, US and PUSB were 2, 2, and 1, respectively, and they were all misdiagnosed as partial-thickness tears. The sensitivity and specificity of MRI, US and PUSB in the diagnosis of complete rotator cuff were 86.7%, 86.7%, and 93.3% and 85.7%, 82.5% and 96.8%, respectively, and the accuracies in diagnosing no tears were 86.7% (13/15), 86.7% (13/15) and 87.5% (14/15), respectively (P = 0.997). Conclusions It is feasible to diagnose rotator cuff tears by PUSB, which can be used as an important supplement imaging method to evaluate rotator cuff tears.