THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN IRREGULAR GREATER TUBEROSITIES AND ROTATOR CUFF TEARS - A SONOGRAPHIC STUDY

OBJECTIVE, Although an association between irregular greater tuberosit ies and rotator cuff tears has been suggested, no formal studies have been done. This study was designed to investigate the relationship bet ween greater tuberosity irregularities, rotator cuff tears, and age. S UBJECTS AND METHODS. Sonographic examinations of both shoulders of 77 asymptomatic individuals (154 shoulders) between 30 and 80 years old w ere performed. The rotator cuffs and greater tuberosities were evaluat ed. Full- and partial-thickness rotator cuff tears were given equal si gnificance. A two-tailed Fisher's exact test, a Student's t test, and logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the data. RESULTS. S onography showed the greater tuberosity to be irregular in 36 (90%) of 40 shoulders with a rotator cuff tear. The greater tuberosity was irr egular in only 12 (11%) of 114 shoulders without a rotator cuff tear. When the greater tuberosity was irregular, sonography showed 36 (75%) of 48 shoulders to have rotator cuff tears. When the greater tuberosit y was normal, 102 (96%) of 106 of the rotator cuffs were normal on son ography. Statistical significance was detected (p <.001) for the assoc iation of greater tuberosity irregularity and rotator cuff tear. After accounting for age, a statistically significant association was found (p <.001) between rotator cuff status and greater tuberosity status. CONCLUSION, On sonography, greater tuberosity irregularities are relia ble indicators in the assessment of shoulders for rotator cuff tears. In addition, we have shown that greater tuberosity irregularities are not simply related to aging.