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Shoulder Ultrasound

Indications
1. Rotator Cuff Tear
Advantages
1. Much less expensive than MRI
2. Much better tolerated than MRI
3. High accuracy compared with MRI for Rotator Cuff Tear diagnosis
Disadvantages
1. Does not assess other shoulder structures (e.g. Shoulder labrum)
2. Not yet widely accepted for rotator cuff evaluation
Efficacy
1. Accuracy is dependent on technician experience
2. Greater accuracy than MRI for partial and full thickness Rotator Cuff Tears
  1. Test Sensitivity: 67% for partial thickness and 97 for full thickness tears
  2. Test Specificity: >93%
References
1. Burbank (2008) Am Fam Physician 77:453
2. Dinnes (2003) Health Technol Assess 7:1

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This page was written by Scott Moses, MD. This page was last revised on 4/5/2008 7:42:56 AM. This page was last published on 6/1/2008. Please send comments and questions to the editor. Contact information may be found on the page About the Family Practice Notebook. These pages are best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0.