Sonography of the Shoulder

A great amount of work in musculoskeletal sonography has focused on evaluation of the shoulder and rotator cuff. This is primarily due to the fact that the shoulder is a common site of symptomatology and clinical evaluation is difficult. Even though sonography of the rotator cuff is more difficult than other large tendons, there has been constant incentive to develop and refine shoulder sonography. In the past five years there have been dramatic improvements in high resolution transducers, as well as advances in our understanding of the technique of shoulder sonography and more widespread agreement of the findings seen with rotator cuff tears. All of these factors have contributed to making the exam easier to perform and interpret than in the past. Ultrasound has now evolved into a mature modality for evaluating rotator cuff tears with expected sensitivities of better than 90%.