J Korean Shoulder Elbow Soc.  2007 Jun;10(1):42-49.

The Thickness of Normal and Repaired Rotator-cuff Measured in MRI

• Kim JM
• Kim YS
• Kwon YJ
• Yoo JS
• Jung HW

Abstract

Purpose: To compare the thickness of the repaired full-thickness rotator-cuff tear to that of normal rotator-cuff in young and old persons and evaluate the relationship between the tear size and the repaired thickness in the full-thickness tear using MRI.
Materials and Methods
The thickness of the rotator-cuff of the repaired full thickness tear(age: 45~77, mean 63.3 years, 19 patients: group 1) were compared with those of old intact patients (age: 46~69, mean 57.9 years, 23 patients: group 2) and young intact patients (age: 18~30, mean 23.3 years, 22 patients: group 3). The tear length and width was measured in oblique coronal and oblique sagittal view of MRA, respectively, and the thickness was measured in coronal oblique view 15mm anterior to the posterolateral margin of the glenoid. Correlation between the preoperative tear size (the bigger one between the length and the width) and the postoperative thickness in group 1 was also evaluated statistically.
Results
The postoperative rotator-cuff thickness in group 1 was 3.0 mm in average, which was inversely proportional to the preoperative tear size (P<0.001). The rotator-cuff thickness was 3.9mm in group 2 and 5.0mm in group 3, and there was statistically significant difference among the three groups(P<0.05).
Conclusion
The rotator-cuff thickness decreases with age and the postoperative thickness in the full-thickness tear was inversely proportional to the tear size, smaller than that of the intact rotator-cuff.

Keyword

Rotator-cuff thickness; Tear; Age; MRI

MeSH Terms

Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging*