Ultrasound-diagnosed disorders in shoulder patients in daily general practice: a retrospective observational study

Background: Ultrasound imaging (US) is considered an accurate and widely available method to diagnose subacromial disorders. Yet, the frequency of the specific US-diagnosed shoulder disorders of patients with shoulder pain referred from general practice is unknown. We set out to determine the frequency of specific US-diagnosed shoulder disorders in daily practice in these patients and to investigate if the disorders detected differ between specific subgroups based on age and duration of pain. Methods: A predefined selection of 240 ultrasound reports of patients with shoulder pain (20 reports for each month in 2011) from a general hospital (Orbis Medical Centre Sittard-Geleen, The Netherlands) were descriptively analysed. Inclusion criteria were: (i) referral from general practice, (ii) age >=18 years, and (iii) unilateral shoulder examination. Subgroups were created for age (=65 years) and duration of pain (acute or subacute (=12 weeks)). The occurrence of each specific disorder is expressed as absolute and relative frequencies. Results: With 29%, calcific tendonitis was the most frequently diagnosed disorder, followed by subacromial-subdeltoid bursitis (12%), tendinopathy (11%), partial-thickness tears (11%), full-thickness tears (8%) and AC-osteoarthritis (0.4%). For 40% of patients, no disorders were found on US. Significantly more full thickness-tears were found in the >=65 years group. 'No disorders' was reported significantly more often in the =65 years, while 'no disor...
Source: BMC Family Practice - Category: Primary Care Authors: Source Type: research