•  
  •  
 

Subject Area

Radiology and Imaging Sciences

Article Type

Original Study

Abstract

Background The shoulder is the site of multiple injuries and inflammatory conditions that lend themselves to therapeutic injection. Therapeutic subacromial injection should be considered after other conservative interventions have been tried. Studies have demonstrated that needle placement is more accurate with image guidance, usually ultrasound (US). Objectives To highlight the role of US-guided injection in the treatment of supraspinatus tendon injuries. Patients and methods This study included 60 patients diagnosed as having supraspinatus tendinosis only or with associated partial thickness tear. All patients were injected under US guidance. A total of 40 patients were injected with corticosteroids, whereas the other 20 patients were injected with platelet-rich plasma. At 4 and 12 weeks, patients were followed up clinically by visual analog scale score and radiologically by US measurement of tendon thickness and tear size and compared with their corresponding preinjection measures. Results There was a statistically significant decrease in visual analog scale score with decrease from a mean ± SD value of 4.98 ± 1.57 (2.0–9.0) (baseline values) till reaching a mean value of 1.98 ± 1.11 (0.0–5.0) after 12 weeks (after injection), with P value less than or equal to 0.001. The supraspinatus tendon thickness decreased from a mean ± SD baseline value of 7.81 ± 0.49 till reaching a mean ± SD value of 7.23 ± 0.46 after 12 weeks, with P value less than or equal to 0.001. A statistically significant decrease in the tear size was noted only after 12 weeks following injection. The tear size decreased from a baseline mean ± SD value of 1.48 ± 0.29 till reaching 1.08 ± 0.22 after 12 weeks, with P value less than or equal to 0.001. The only noted postinjection adverse effect was transient shoulder pain in 24 (60%) patients of the corticosteroid group. Conclusion US-guided injection of corticosteroids and platelet-rich plasma offers a good minimally invasive method for management of supraspinatus tendinopathy.

Download

Share

COinS