Role of MRI in Assessment of , Rotator Cuff Injury of the Shoulder Joint .

Abstract

The majority of patients with shoulder pain have it as a result of rotator cuff disease. This is mostly due to irritation of rotator cuff tendons underneath the structures of the coraco-acromial arch by repeated overhead use of the arm, either in athletics, during work or other daily activities. The result of this is a spectrum of abnormalities ranging from inflammation of the tendon to partial or complete tears of the cuff and this is usually accompanied by, exacerbated by or resulting from bony changes involving the anterior acromion and the acromio-clavicular joint.

Conventional radiology plays little or no role in early diagnosis as plain radiographic changes generally occur late in the course of the disease.

Recent imaging modalities such as MRI make the diagnosis of diseases causing shoulder pain much easier than before.

Advantages of MRI include its non-invasive nature, lack of ionizing radition, multiplanner