TY  - JOUR
A1  - Schmalzl, Jonas
A1  - Fenwick, Annabel
A1  - Reichel, Thomas
A1  - Schmitz, Benedikt
A1  - Jordan, Martin
A1  - Meffert, Rainer
A1  - Plumhoff, Piet
A1  - Boehm, Dirk
A1  - Gilbert, Fabian
T1  - Anterior deltoid muscle tension quantified with shear wave ultrasound elastography correlates with pain level after reverse shoulder arthroplasty
JF  - European Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery & Traumatology
N2  - Introduction
Reverse shoulder arthroplasty (RSA) leads to medialization and distalization of the centre of rotation of the shoulder joint resulting in lengthening of the deltoid muscle. Shear wave ultrasound elastography (SWE) is a reliable method for quantifying tissue stiffness. The purpose of this study was to analyse if deltoid muscle tension after RSA correlates with the patients' pain level. We hypothesized that higher deltoid muscle tension would be associated with increased pain.
Material and methods
Eighteen patients treated with RSA were included. Constant score (CS) and pain level on the visual analogue scale (VAS) were analysed and SWE was performed on both shoulders. All three regions of the deltoid muscle were examined in resting position and under standardized isometric loading.
Results
Average patient age was 76 (range 64-84) years and average follow-up was 15 months (range 4-48). The average CS was 66 points (range 35-89) and the average pain level on the VAS was 1.8 (range 0.5-4.7). SWE revealed statistically significant higher muscle tension in the anterior and middle deltoid muscle region in patients after RSA compared to the contralateral non-operated side. There was a statistically significant correlation between pain level and anterior deltoid muscle tension.
Conclusion
SWE revealed increased tension in the anterior and middle portion of the deltoid muscle after RSA in a clinical setting. Increased tension of the anterior deltoid muscle portion significantly correlated with an increased pain level. SWE is a powerful, cost-effective, quick, dynamic, non-invasive, and radiation-free imaging technique to evaluate tissue elasticity in the shoulder with a wide range of applications.
KW  - pain
KW  - shear wave elastography
KW  - strain elastography
KW  - shoulder
KW  - deltoid muscle
KW  - reverse shoulder arthroplasty
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-268441
SN  - 1432-1068
VL  - 32
IS  - 2
ER  -