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Magnetic resonance imaging of shoulders with idiopathic adhesive capsulitis: reliability of measures

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Abstract

The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in idiopathic adhesive capsulitis (AC) were compared with those of contralateral healthy shoulders and the reliability of measures assessed. Twenty-six consecutive patients (26 AC and 14 healthy shoulders) were prospectively assessed. The main measurements were thickness of the joint capsule and synovial membrane in the axillary recess and rotator interval in T1-weighted spin-echo sequence enhanced with intravenous (IV) gadolinium chelate (Gd-chelate). Reliability was studied by use of the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The mean thickness of the axillary recess on the coronal plane was 9.0±2.2 mm in AC shoulders and 0.4±0.7 mm in healthy shoulders. The mean thickness of the rotator interval on the sagittal plane was 8.4±2.8 in AC shoulders and 0.6±0.8 mm in healthy shoulders. Interobserver reliability was good for the axillary recess, with ICC values of 0.84 for the coronal plane, and good for the rotator interval, with ICC values of 0.80 for the sagittal plane. MRI with IV Gd-chelate injection can show, with acceptable reliability, signal and thickness abnormalities of the shoulder joint capsule and synovial membrane in AC.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the help provided by Alain Chevrot, MD; Geraldine Revelon, MD; and Fabienne Bach, MD.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Hôpital Cochin (AP-HP), Université René Descartes, 75014, Paris, France

    Marie-Martine Lefevre-Colau, Fouad Fayad, Francois Rannou, Samantha Demaille-Wlodyka, Marie-Anne Mayoux-Benhamou, Serge Poiraudeau & Michel Revel

  2. Department of Radiology B, Hôpital Cochin (AP-HP), 75014, Paris, France

    Jean-Luc Drapé, Thierry Diche & Francois Minvielle

  3. Department of Biostatistics, Hôpital Necker (AP-HP), Université René Descartes, 75015, Paris, France

    Jacques Fermanian

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  1. Marie-Martine Lefevre-Colau
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  8. Marie-Anne Mayoux-Benhamou
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  10. Serge Poiraudeau
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Correspondence to Marie-Martine Lefevre-Colau.

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Lefevre-Colau, MM., Drapé, JL., Fayad, F. et al. Magnetic resonance imaging of shoulders with idiopathic adhesive capsulitis: reliability of measures. Eur Radiol 15, 2415–2422 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-005-2830-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-005-2830-x

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