Magnetic resonance imaging of shoulders with idiopathic adhesive capsulitis: reliability of measures

Abstract

The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in idiopathic adhesive capsulitis (AC) were compared with those of contralateral healthy shoulders and the reliability of measures assessed. Twenty-six consecutive patients (26 AC and 14 healthy shoulders) were prospectively assessed. The main measurements were thickness of the joint capsule and synovial membrane in the axillary recess and rotator interval in T1-weighted spin-echo sequence enhanced with intravenous (IV) gadolinium chelate (Gd-chelate). Reliability was studied by use of the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The mean thickness of the axillary recess on the coronal plane was 9.0+/-2.2 mm in AC shoulders and 0.4+/-0.7 mm in healthy shoulders. The mean thickness of the rotator interval on the sagittal plane was 8.4+/-2.8 in AC shoulders and 0.6+/-0.8 mm in healthy shoulders. Interobserver reliability was good for the axillary recess, with ICC values of 0.84 for the coronal plane, and good for the rotator interval, with ICC values of 0.80 for the sagittal plane. MRI with IV Gd-chelate injection can show, with acceptable reliability, signal and thickness abnormalities of the shoulder joint capsule and synovial membrane in AC.

Enhanced-MRI and Ultrasound Evaluation of Painful Shoulder in Patients after Stroke: A Pilot Study

“…In the literature, the prevalence of HSP ranges widely from 5 to 84% [4,31]. Pain in the shoulder has been reported by 37% of patients within 1 month of stroke [4], though this figure rises to 63.8% within 6 months [5]; however, the time of evaluation may be a confounding factor.…”

“…These inflammatory abnormalities are indicative of an anatomical condition of adhesive capsulitis [31], which emerged as the main cause of HSP in our subjects. These findings confirm the results of the only previously published enhanced MRI study, which was conducted by Tavora et al [16] on 45 HSP patients in a chronic stage.…”

“…This technique permitted an accurate evaluation of the glenohumeral joint capsule, whose thickness was measured in the axillary recess and in the rotator cuff interval. Values higher than 1 mm at the axillary recess and higher than 1.4 mm at the rotator cuff interval were considered abnormal [31]. …”

“…The matrix size was 230 × 230, the field of view 15 cm, the slice thickness 4 mm and the gap 2 mm. Post-enhanced images were acquired 4 min after gadodiamide injection [31]. …”

Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Adhesive Capsulitis: Correlation with Clinical Staging

“…More recently, MRI features helpful in the diagnosis of AC have been described in the literature, with relatively disappointing overall specificity for the disease [10][11][12][13]. Most of these reports have included MRI images obtained with either indirect (intravenous) or direct (intraarticular) arthrography [14][15][16].…”