Friday, September 6, 2013

Rheumatoid arthritis of the shoulder, x-ray appearance



As we've emphasized before (see here), two plain x-rays are necessary and sufficient to make most diagnoses of shoulder arthritis.

Here is an anteroposterior (AP) and an axillary view typical of shoulders with rheumatoid arthritis

The upper view, the AP shows the medial migration of the humeral head so that the lateral tuberosity is medial to the lateral acromion. There is minimal osteophytosis and periarticular osteopenia.





The standardized axillary view reveals much more of the pathology: glenoid is medially eroded and flattened.





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Here are some videos that are of shoulder interest
Shoulder arthritis - what you need to know (see this link).
How to x-ray the shoulder (see this link).
The ream and run procedure (see this link).
The total shoulder arthroplasty (see this link).
The cuff tear arthropathy arthroplasty (see this link).
The reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (see this link).
The smooth and move procedure for irreparable rotator cuff tears (see this link).
Shoulder rehabilitation exercises (see this link)