Case Control Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Orthop. Apr 18, 2020; 11(4): 206-212
Published online Apr 18, 2020. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v11.i4.206
Role of shoulder gradient in the pathogenesis of rotator cuff tears
Amir Sobhani Eraghi, Mikaiel Hajializade, Ehsan Shekarchizadeh, Shadi Abdollahi Kordkandi
Amir Sobhani Eraghi, Mikaiel Hajializade, Ehsan Shekarchizadeh, Shadi Abdollahi Kordkandi, Department of Orthopedics, Rasul-e Akram Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 1445613131, Iran
Author contributions: Sobhani Eraghi A ‎designed research; Hajializade M and Abdollahi Kordkandi S and Shekarchizadeh E performed research; Shekarchizadeh E analyzed data; Hajializade‎ M and Sobhani Eraghi A wrote the paper.
Institutional review board statement: ‎This study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of Iran University of Medical Sciences under code of IR.IUMS.FMD.REC 1396.9423715006
Informed consent statement: The patients provided written consent before participation in the ‎study.‎
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors of this article declare no conflict of interest to disclose.
Data sharing statement: All data requests should be submitted to the corresponding author for consideration. Access to anonymised data may be granted following review.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Mikaiel Hajializade, MD, Orthopedic Resident, Department of Orthopedics, Rasul-e Akram Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Satarkhan St., Tehran 1445613131, Iran. michaelalizadeh@gmail.com
Received: September 17, 2019
Peer-review started: September 17, 2019
First decision: December 23, 2019
Revised: January 15, 2020
Accepted: February 8, 2020
Article in press: February 8, 2020
Published online: April 18, 2020
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Shoulder gradient has been associated with shoulder pathologies such as shoulder impingement syndrome.

AIM

To investigate if there is an association between shoulder gradient and incidence of rotator cuff tear (RCT).

METHODS

A total of 61 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of RCT were included in this retrospective study. The anteroposterior radiograph of the shoulder was used to measure shoulder gradient in adduction and neutral rotation positions. The pain level was assessed with the visual analog scale for pain.

RESULTS

The mean age of the patients was 55.7 ± 12.3 years. The mean visual analog scale of the patients was 4.1 ± 1.2. The mean shoulder gradient was 14.11º ± 2.65º for the affected shoulder and 15.8º ± 2.2º for the unaffected shoulders. This difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.41). A difference of 1.15º ± 1.82º was found between the injured and non-injured shoulder. No significant association was found between the gradient difference of the shoulder and demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients.

CONCLUSION

Shoulder gradient is not associated with the pathology of RCT. Yet, future studies with more standardization and a larger sample size are needed to investigate the role of shoulder gradient in RCT pathogenesis further.

Keywords: Shoulder, Shoulder gradient, Rotator cuff tear, Pathogenesis, Anatomy

Core tip: Shoulder anatomical characteristics have been associated with several shoulder pathologies. We hypothesized that the shoulder gradient might be regarded as an anatomic factor affecting the occurrence of rotator cuff pathologies. Our analysis revealed no association between shoulder gradient and incidence of rotator cuff tear.