Current concepts in the radiographic evaluation of the rotator cuff

This review discusses the disease of the rotator cuff and evaluates our current tools for imaging it. The rotator cuff consists of the cojoined tendons of the short rotator muscles of the shoulder. Derangements of the cuff, which can result from degeneration, trauma, or overuse, are frequent causes of shoulder pain. Until the present decade, imaging of the cuff depended on injection of contrast into either the underlying joint (arthrogram) or overlying bursa (bursogram). Computed tomography (CT) has added additional dimensions to arthrography but has not played a major role in the diagnosis of cuff pathology. Ultrasonography (US) has been shown to be of diagnostic value in imaging cuff tears and has shown promise in defining pathology in the intact cuff. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has the potential for imaging the cuff; its roles here are not yet defined.