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The teres minor muscle in rotator cuff tendon tears

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Abstract

Objectives

Although the teres minor has received little attention in the literature compared to the other musculotendinous units of the rotator cuff, it is an important component of shoulder function. Our purpose was to study the appearance of the teres minor muscle on CT and MRI images in various patterns of rotator cuff tears.

Materials and methods

We analyzed the appearance of the teres minor according to the Walch classification (normal, hypertrophic, atrophic, or absent) in 1,332 CT and in 240 MRI images of rotator cuff tears and we correlated it with the type of rotator cuff tears, time period between initial onset of symptoms and diagnostic imaging, age of the patient at the time of imaging, and degree of fatty infiltration of other rotator cuff muscles.

Results

The teres minor was classified as normal in 90.8% of cases, hypertrophic in 5.8%, atrophic in 3.2%, and absent in 0.2%. Significant variability existed in the appearance of the teres minor muscle among different patterns of rotator cuff tears in the CT (P < 0.0001) and MRI groups (P < 0.0001). The teres minor appeared most frequently hypertrophic in anterior tears and atrophic in posterior-superior tears.

Conclusions

The teres minor was normal in most rotator cuff tears. A morphologic classification system allowed the appearance of the teres minor to be defined in isolated and multiple rotator cuff tears in CT and MRI images.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre Orthopédique Santy, 24, Avenue Paul Santy, 69008, Lyon, France

    Barbara Melis & Gilles Walch

  2. Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, NY, USA

    Michael J. DeFranco

  3. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    Alexandre Lädermann

  4. Department of Radiology, Clinique du Mail, Grenoble, France

    Renaud Barthelemy

Authors
  1. Barbara Melis
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  2. Michael J. DeFranco
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  3. Alexandre Lädermann
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  4. Renaud Barthelemy
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  5. Gilles Walch
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gilles Walch.

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Melis, B., DeFranco, M.J., Lädermann, A. et al. The teres minor muscle in rotator cuff tendon tears. Skeletal Radiol 40, 1335–1344 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00256-011-1178-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00256-011-1178-3

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