The Comparative Effectiveness of Clinical Evaluation and MRI in Diagnosing Patients with Shoulder Pain.

Abstract

Introduction-Shoulder pain is a common complaint in primary health care resulting in significant pain and disability, loss of productivity and health care costs. With time various imaging modalities has come for establishing the diagnosis. MRI has become the “gold standard” for detecting both subtle and obvious internal derangement and assessing overall joint structure. The present study was done with an aim to study the spectrum of disease detectable with this technique and to know the advantages and usefulness of MRI in evaluation of shoulder pain
Material and methods-The prospective observational study was conducted at Jaipur National University , Institute for Medical Science and Research Centre , Jaipur among 30 patients who visited with complain of shoulder joint and referred during the study period of one year. Demographic and clinical history was recorded and MRI of patients was done according to protocol.
Results – More than 50% of the subjects were having age of >41 years. 64% and 36% of the subjects were male and female respectively. Thickness tear, full thickness tear and tendinosis were revealed among 26%, 2% and 36% of the subjects with SS. In case of SUB and IFS; partial thickness tear and tendinosis was reported among 4%, 8% and 2%, 4% of the subjects respectively. ACJ hypertrophy and labral tear was found among 32% and 18% of the subjects respectively. Bony pathology was found among 36% of the subjects.
Conclusion-In medicine, elaborate diagnosis obviously makes sense if there are means for adequate therapy and there is a good chance for better outcomes. MRI is non-invasive, contrast-free, nonionizing, and high-resolution.MRI shoulder helps determine which individuals need medical and surgical treatment.