Information for Medical Professionals

Scans 'could determine need for shoulder replacement operations'

The need for surgery following non-operative rotator cuff treatments can be monitored using magnetic resonance images, a new study has revealed.

Research published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery has found that this technique can be used to determine whether or not shoulder replacement surgery is required.

The authors claimed that very little is known about the outcome of non-operative treatments of symptomatic tears but that monitoring can enable doctors to determine whether further action is needed.

In the research, 54 patients were examined, with scans being performed six months after the initial study.

Factors affecting the progression of the problem include being aged 60 or more, experiencing a full-thickness tear and fatty infiltrations of the rotator cuff muscle.

"In the long-term follow-up of non-operatively treated rotator cuff tears, magnetic resonance imaging can be used to monitor rotator cuff changes and guide patient management," the authors concluded.

Research published recently in the journal has implicated a genetic link in rotator cuff problems, with researchers predicting that gene identification would allow the development of techniques that could improve surgical outcomes.

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