These authors sought to determine the value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound-based imaging strategies in the evaluation of a hypothetical population with a symptomatic full-thickness supraspinatus tendon tear using formal cost-effectiveness analysis. They used a decision analytic model from the health care system perspective for 60-year-old patients with symptoms secondary to a suspected supraspinatus tear to evaluate the incremental cost-effectiveness of 3 imaging strategies during a 2-year time horizon: MRI, ultrasound, and ultrasound followed by MRI.
Their results shown below show a 0.8% increased effectiveness for MRI which costs 16.5% more than ultrasound.
Comment: What's really interesting in this paper is the first two sentences of the introduction. "Rotator cuff tears are a common source of shoulder pain, especially for older patients, and full-thickness tendon tears have been reported in up to 21% of the general population. Surgical treatment for rotator cuff disease has increased 238% during a span of 14 years (1995-2009), accounting for approximately 250,000 operations in the United States per year."
In 2012 the Unites States population of individuals over the age of 65 years was 41,506,000 (see this link). From these numbers it can be estimated that there are 8,716,200 individuals (21% times 41,506,000) with cuff tears, but less than 3% (250,000 divided by 8,716,200) of these receive surgery each year. One must ask, "how important is imaging in the decision to perform surgery, what percent of the population should have ultrasound or MRI to evaluate cuff integrity?" The reader can do the math of multiplying the cost of imaging by the number of folks at risk for having cuff tears.
The decision to attempt a cuff repair on a patient needs to be highly individualized. Shared patient-surgeon decision making needs to be based on findings that have been shown to be encouraging or discouraging about the prospect of the shoulder having a durably reparable cuff tear. It is of interest that many of these factors can be determined without ultrasound or MRI. We first published these guidelines in 1994 and have found them as useful today as back then. Note that the decision is based on considering the patient as well as the shoulder.
ENCOURAGING DISCOURAGING
History
Age less than 55 Age over 65
Acute traumatic onset Insidious, atraumatic onset
No relation to work Attribution of tear to work
Short duration of weakness Weakness over 6 weeks
No history of smoking Many smoking pack-years
No steroid injections Repeated steroid injections
No major medications Steroids/antimetabolites
No concurrent disease Inflammatory joint disease
No infections History of previous infection
No previous shoulder surgery Previous cuff surgery
Benign surgical history History of failed tissue repairs
Physical Examination
Good nutrition Poor nutrition/obesity
Mild weakness Severe weakness
No spinatus atrophy Severe spinatus atrophy
Stable shoulder Anterior superior instability
Intact acromion Previous acromioplasty
No stiffness Stiffness
Radiographs
Normal radiographs Upwards head displacement
Cuff tear arthropathy
MRI or Ultrasound
Good tendon quality Thin tendon
One tendon tear Multiple tendon involvement
Small gap to close Severe retraction
In our practice, we are depending less and less on rotator cuff imaging and more and more on the factors that can be discerned from a good history, physical examination, and plain radiographs.
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The reader may also be interested in these posts:
Consultation for those who live a distance away from Seattle.
Click here to see the new Shoulder Arthritis Book.
Click here to see the new Rotator Cuff Book
Information about shoulder exercises can be found at this link.
Use the "Search" box to the right to find other topics of interest to you.
You may be interested in some of our most visited web pages including:shoulder arthritis, total shoulder, ream and run, reverse total shoulder, CTA arthroplasty, and rotator cuff surgery as well as the 'ream and run essentials'
See from which cities our patients come.
See the countries from which our readers come on this post.
Comment: What's really interesting in this paper is the first two sentences of the introduction. "Rotator cuff tears are a common source of shoulder pain, especially for older patients, and full-thickness tendon tears have been reported in up to 21% of the general population. Surgical treatment for rotator cuff disease has increased 238% during a span of 14 years (1995-2009), accounting for approximately 250,000 operations in the United States per year."
In 2012 the Unites States population of individuals over the age of 65 years was 41,506,000 (see this link). From these numbers it can be estimated that there are 8,716,200 individuals (21% times 41,506,000) with cuff tears, but less than 3% (250,000 divided by 8,716,200) of these receive surgery each year. One must ask, "how important is imaging in the decision to perform surgery, what percent of the population should have ultrasound or MRI to evaluate cuff integrity?" The reader can do the math of multiplying the cost of imaging by the number of folks at risk for having cuff tears.
The decision to attempt a cuff repair on a patient needs to be highly individualized. Shared patient-surgeon decision making needs to be based on findings that have been shown to be encouraging or discouraging about the prospect of the shoulder having a durably reparable cuff tear. It is of interest that many of these factors can be determined without ultrasound or MRI. We first published these guidelines in 1994 and have found them as useful today as back then. Note that the decision is based on considering the patient as well as the shoulder.
ENCOURAGING DISCOURAGING
History
Age less than 55 Age over 65
Acute traumatic onset Insidious, atraumatic onset
No relation to work Attribution of tear to work
Short duration of weakness Weakness over 6 weeks
No history of smoking Many smoking pack-years
No steroid injections Repeated steroid injections
No major medications Steroids/antimetabolites
No concurrent disease Inflammatory joint disease
No infections History of previous infection
No previous shoulder surgery Previous cuff surgery
Benign surgical history History of failed tissue repairs
Physical Examination
Good nutrition Poor nutrition/obesity
Mild weakness Severe weakness
No spinatus atrophy Severe spinatus atrophy
Stable shoulder Anterior superior instability
Intact acromion Previous acromioplasty
No stiffness Stiffness
Radiographs
Normal radiographs Upwards head displacement
Cuff tear arthropathy
MRI or Ultrasound
Good tendon quality Thin tendon
One tendon tear Multiple tendon involvement
Small gap to close Severe retraction
====
The reader may also be interested in these posts:
Consultation for those who live a distance away from Seattle.
Click here to see the new Shoulder Arthritis Book.
Click here to see the new Rotator Cuff Book
Information about shoulder exercises can be found at this link.
Use the "Search" box to the right to find other topics of interest to you.
You may be interested in some of our most visited web pages including:shoulder arthritis, total shoulder, ream and run, reverse total shoulder, CTA arthroplasty, and rotator cuff surgery as well as the 'ream and run essentials'
See from which cities our patients come.
See the countries from which our readers come on this post.
