[Criteria for legal assessment of rotator cuff rupture]

The judgement of the correlation between an accident and a rotator cuff tear has an important role in legal and private accident insurance. Owing to the high morbidity of degenerative alterations and ruptures of the rotator cuff tendons, the causality of an acute traumatic rupture can be difficult to demonstrate, which means assessments are often controversial. In a retrospective study we evaluated 25 orthopaedic assessments and tried to find rules for an objective estimation. The judgement of correlation between trauma and rotator cuff tear should be based on four pillars: history, trauma mechanism, initial findings and course of the functional deficit. Possible mechanisms of traumatic rupture are discussed from various angles. Important clinical findings, e.g. a functional supraspinatus deficit, should be fully documented. X-Rays of both shoulders can lead to indirect demonstration of preexistent changes in the rotator cuff. Sonographic evaluation can show up the rotator cuff tear and demonstrate signs of acute injury. After persistent pain and functional deficit, in a few cases operative and microscopic findings will lead to a correct estimate of causality. Because of the diagnostic uncertainty a 20-point score is introduced for retrospective assessment of the history (2 points), trauma mechanism (3 points), initial clinical, radiological and sonographic findings (10 points) and course of functional deficit (5 points) to evaluate the role of trauma in rotator cuff tears. Using this score trauma can be classified as the main or partial cause or as irrelevant to the pathogenesis of rotator cuff tears.