An MRI Study of Symptomatic Adhesive Capsulitis

View/ Open
Author
Zhao, Wen
Zheng, Xiaofeng
Liu, Yuying
Yang, Wenlu
Amirbekian, Vardan
Diaz, Luis E.
Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0047277Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Zhao, Wen, Xiaofeng Zheng, Yuying Liu, Wenlu Yang, Vardan Amirbekian, Luis E. Diaz, and Xudong Huang. 2012. An MRI study of symptomatic adhesive capsulitis. PLoS ONE 7(10): e47277.Abstract
Background: Appilication of MR imaging to diagnose Adhesive Capsulitis (AC) has previously been described. However, there is insufficient information available for the MRI analysis of AC. This study is to describe and evaluate the pathomorphology of the shoulder in Asian patients with AC compared to healthy volunteers. Methodology/Principal Findings: 60 Asian patients with clinically diagnosed AC and 60 healthy volunteers without frozen shoulder underwent MRI of the shoulder joint. All subjects who were age- and sex-matched control ones underwent routine MRI scans of the affected shoulder, including axial, oblique coronal, oblique sagittal T1WI SE and coronal oblique T2WI FSE sequences. Significant abnormal findings were observed on MRI, especially at the rotator cuff interval. The coracohumeral ligament (CHL), articular capsule thickness in the rotator cuff interval as well as the fat space under coracoid process were evaluated. MRI showed that patients with adhesive capsulitis had a significantly thickened coracohumeral ligament and articular capsule in the rotator cuff interval compared to the control subjects (4.2 vs. 2.4 mm, 7.2 vs. 4.4 mm; p<0.05). Partial or complete obliteration of the subcoracoid fat triangle was significantly more frequent in patients with adhesive capsulitis compared with control subjects (73% vs. 13%, 26% vs. 1.6%; p<0.001). Synovitis-like abnormality around the long biceps tendon was significantly more common in patients with adhesive capsulitis than in control subjects. With regards to the inter-observer variability, two MR radiologists had an excellent kappa value of 0.86. Conclusions/Significance: MRI can be used to show characteristic findings in diagnosing AC. Thickening of the CHL and the capsule at the rotator cuff interval and complete obliteration of the fat triangle under the coracoid process have been shown to be the most characteristic MR findings seen with AC.Other Sources
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3474834/pdf/Terms of Use
This article is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of-use#LAACitable link to this page
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:10579134
Collections
- HMS Scholarly Articles [17714]
Contact administrator regarding this item (to report mistakes or request changes)