The association between irregular greater tuberosities and rotator cuff tears: a sonographic study

Although an association between irregular greater tuberosities and rotator cuff tears has been suggested, no formal studies have been done. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between greater tuberosity irregularities, rotator cuff tears, and age.

Sonographic examinations of both shoulders of 77 asymptomatic individuals (154 shoulders) between 30 and 80 years old were performed. The rotator cuffs and greater tuberosities were evaluated. Full- and partial-thickness rotator cuff tears were given equal significance. A two-tailed Fisher's exact test, a Student's t test, and logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the data.

Sonography showed the greater tuberosity to be irregular in 36 (90%) of 40 shoulders with a rotator cuff tear. The greater tuberosity was irregular in only 12 (11%) of 114 shoulders without a rotator cuff tear. When the greater tuberosity was irregular, sonography showed 36 (75%) of 48 shoulders to have rotator cuff tears. When the greater tuberosity was normal, 102 (96%) of 106 of the rotator cuffs were normal on sonography. Statistical significance was detected (p < .001) for the association of greater tuberosity irregularity and rotator cuff tear. After accounting for age, a statistically significant association was found (p < .001) between rotator cuff status and greater tuberosity status.

On sonography, greater tuberosity irregularities are reliable indicators in the assessment of shoulders for rotator cuff tears. In addition, we have shown that greater tuberosity irregularities are not simply related to aging.