Modified Oblique Sagittal Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Rotator Cuff Tears: Comparison with Standard Oblique Sagittal Images

Abstract

Rotator cuff disease occurs in adults is very common cause of shoulder pain causes is known as one of the. Combined oblique coronal and oblique sagittal standard magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is highly accurate for detecting full-thickness rotator cuff tears. However, the accuracy of standard MR imaging is lower for partial-thickness tears. Small rotator cuff tears can be obscured by partial volume effect if the imaging planes are not orthogonal to the surface of the cuff. Angling the oblique sagittal images perpendicular to the lateral 2 or 3 cm of the supraspinatus tendon would reduce the partial volume effect, and might make tears in this region more conspicuous. The purpose of our study was to compare the accuracy for diagnosing rotator cuff tears of oblique coronal images supplemented with standard oblique sagittal images versus thinner-section modified oblique sagittal fat suppressed fast spin-echo T2-weighted images. For full-thickness supraspinatus tendon tears, our study confirms that oblique coronal and standard oblique sagittal images are very accurate for diagnosing tears, and that supplementing oblique coronal images with thinner-section angled oblique sagittal images does not improve diagnostic accuracy for those few full-thickness tears that are missed on standard MR images. In conclusion, there was a slight improvement in accuracy for diagnosing rotator cuff tears, particularly partial-thickness tears, for the staff radiologist using the thinner-section angled oblique sagittal images.