Quantitative Analysis of Supraspinatus Tendon Pathologies via T2/T2* Mapping Techniques with 1.5 T MRI

Abstract

The aim of this study was to quantitatively assess supraspinatus tendon pathologies with T2/T2* mapping techniques, which are sensitive to biochemical changes. Conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and T2/T2* mapping techniques were applied to 41 patients with shoulder pathology, and there were also 20 asymptomatic cases included. The patients were divided into two groups: tendinosis and rupture. The supraspinatus tendon was divided into medial, middle, and lateral sub-regions, and the T2/T2* values were measured in both the coronal and sagittal planes for intergroup comparison. Intra-class and inter-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) were calculated to assess test reproducibility. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to determine the cut-off value in each group. A total of 61 patients (27 males and 34 females)—including 20 asymptomatic individuals, 20 with tendinosis, and 21 with rupture—were evaluated using T2/T2* mapping techniques. In the rupture group, there were significant differences in the values of the lateral region (p p p p 0.75) for all groups. In conclusion, T2 and T2* mapping techniques with 1.5 T MRI can be used to assess tendon rupture and tendinosis pathologies in the supraspinatus tendon. For an accurate evaluation, measurements from the lateral region in both the coronal and sagittal planes are more decisive.

Keywords

• magnetic resonance imaging
• supraspinatus tendon
• tendinosis
• tendon rupture
• T2 and T2* mapping
• quantitative MRI