A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY OF HIGH RESOLUTION ULTRASOUND AND MRI IN DIAGNOSIS OF ROTATOR CUFF TEARS IN A TERTIARY CARE CENTRE OF CENTRAL INDIA.”

Background:Rotator cuff tears (RCTs) are a leading cause of shoulder pain and functional disability in adults. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is regarded as the gold standard for evaluating tendon pathology, but high-resolution ultrasound (HRUS) offers a cost-effective, dynamic, and widely available alternative. Objective: To compare the diagnostic accuracy of HRUS and MRI in detecting rotator cuff tears and to evaluate their complementary roles in musculoskeletal imaging. Materials And Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted in a tertiary care centre in Central India involving 31 patients aged 18–80 years with clinically suspected rotator cuff tears. Each patient underwent both HRUS and MRI of the affected shoulder. MRI served as the reference standard. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and diagnostic accuracy were calculated for HRUS. Out of the 31 patients enrolled in t Results: he study, 21 (67.7%) were aged between 30–60 years, and a slight majority of patients were male (54.8%). The supraspinatus tendon was the most frequently involved tendon (77.4%). HRUS was found to have a sensitivity of 91.3%, specificity of 88.9%, PPV of 91%, NPV of 89%, and overall accuracy of 90.3% for detecting full-thickness tears. For supraspinatus and infraspinatus tears, there was excellent agreement between HRUS and MRI, while a few subscapularis and partial-thickness lesions were underestimated. High-resolution ultrasound demonst Conclusion: rates diagnostic accuracy comparable to MRI for full-thickness rotator cuff tears. Owing to its dynamic assessment capability, accessibility, and low cost, HRUS can serve as the first-line imaging modality, reserving MRI for equivocal or complex cases.