Chandrakanth K. S1, Harshavardhan Nagolu2, Meera Krishnakumar3
BACKGROUND
Shoulder pain is a common clinical problem. Impingement syndrome of the shoulder is believed to be the most common cause of shoulder pain. The term ‘impingement syndrome’ was first used by Neer to describe a condition of shoulder pain associated with chronic bursitis and partial thickness tear of Rotator Cuff (RC). The incidence of Rotator Cuff (RC) tear is estimated to be about 20.7% in the general population. This study is intended to analyse various extrinsic and intrinsic causes of shoulder impingement.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
110 consecutive patients referred for MRI with clinical suspicion of shoulder impingement were prospectively studied. All the patients were evaluated for Rotator Cuff (RC) degeneration and various extrinsic factors that lead to degeneration like acromial shape, down-sloping acromion, Acromioclavicular (AC) joint degeneration and acromial enthesophyte. Intrinsic factors like degeneration and its correlation with age of the patients were evaluated.
RESULTS
Of the total 110 patients, 19 (17.3%) patients had FT RC tear and 31 (28.2%) had PT (both bursal and articular surface) tears. There was no statistically significant correlation (p=0.76) between acromion types and RC tear. Down-sloping acromion and enthesophytes had statistically significant association with RC tear (p=0.008 and 0.008, respectively). Statistically significant (0.008) correlation between the severity of AC joint degeneration and RC tears was noted. AC joint degeneration and RC pathologies also showed a correlation with the age of the patients with p values of <0.001 and 0.001, respectively.
CONCLUSION
No statistically significant correlation between RC pathologies with hooked acromion was found, that makes the role played by hooked acromion in FT RC tear questionable. AC joint degeneration association with RC tear is due to the association of both RC tear and AC joint degeneration with age of the patient. Down-sloping acromion, AC joint degeneration and enthesophytes proved to be independent variables significantly associated with RC tear.
