Clin Should Elbow.  2014 Sep;17(3):107-113. 10.5397/cise.2014.17.3.107.

Diagnostic Consistency between Sonoelastography and Conventional Sonography of Long Head of the Biceps

• Yoon S
• Seo JB
• Yoo JS
• Ryu JW

• KMID: 2049436
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5397/cise.2014.17.3.107

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Sonoelastography (SE) is a new technique that can assess differences in tissue stiffness, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of SE to assess the long head of biceps tendon alteration.
METHODS
Forty shoulders of 36 consecutively registered patients with clinical symptoms and conventional ultrasonography findings of biceps tendinitis or tendinosis, and 40 asymptomatic shoulders of 20 healthy volunteers were assessed with SE. Transverse and longitudinal images of long head of biceps tendon were obtained using SE. SE images were performed by one orthopedic surgeon and evaluated by two orthopedic surgeons using an experimentally proven color grading system.
RESULTS
The transverse images of SE showed a sensitivity of 87.5%, a specificity of 95.0% and a accuracy of 91.3%, the longitudinal images of SE showed a sensitivity of 92.5%, a specificity of 90.0% and a accuracy of 91.3%. Inter-observer reliability of SE was in 'almost perfect agreement' with a weighted kappa coefficient of 0.83.
CONCLUSIONS
SE is valuable in the detection of the intratendinous and peritendinous alterations of biceps tendon, and has excellent accuracy and excellent correlation with conventional ultrasound findings.

MeSH Terms

Elasticity Imaging Techniques*
Head*
Healthy Volunteers
Humans
Orthopedics
Sensitivity and Specificity
Shoulder
Tendinopathy
Tendons
Ultrasonography