Friday, September 6, 2013

Rotator cuff tear arthropathy 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 rotator cuff tear arthropathy.

The upper view, the AP shows the superior displacement of the humeral head, the superior glenoid erosion, the acromio-humeral contact, the concavity of the undersurface of the acromion, and the loss of the humeral tuberosities = femoralization of the humeral head and acetabularization of the glenoid and acromion.




The standardized axillary view reveals loss of the joint space and medial glenoid erosion.




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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)