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Updated: Jul 18, 2025
Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Skeletal Muscle Disease
Published on: December 18, 2016
Prevalence of incidental distal biceps signal changes on magnetic resonance imaging
Eugene Kim1, Joost T P Kortlever1, Amanda I Gonzalez1
1Department of Surgery and Perioperative Care, Dell Medical School - The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
Background:
Knowledge of the base rate of signal changes consistent with distal biceps tendinopathy on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has the potential to influence strategies for diagnosis and treatment of people that present with elbow pain. The aim of this study is to measure the prevalence of distal biceps tendon signal changes on MRIs of the elbow by indication for imaging.
Methods:
MRI data for 1,306 elbows were retrospectively reviewed for mention of signal change in distal biceps tendon. The reports were sorted by indication.
Results:
Signal changes consistent with distal biceps tendinopathy were noted in 197 of 1,306 (15%) patients, including 34% of patients with biceps pain, 14% of patients with unspecified pain, and 8% of patients with a specific non-biceps indication. Distal biceps tendon changes noted on radiology reports were associated with older age, male sex, and radiologists with musculoskeletal fellowship training.
Conclusions:
The finding that distal biceps MRI signal changes consistent with tendinopathy are common even in asymptomatic elbows reduces the probability that symptoms correlate with pathology on imaging. The accumulation of signal changes with age, also independent of symptoms, suggests that tendon pathology persists after symptoms resolve, that some degree of distal biceps tendinopathy is common in a human lifetime, and that tendinopathy may often be accommodated without seeking care. Level of evidence: IV.
