Indications for shoulder ultrasound

The article was professionally consulted by Specialist Doctor II Khong Tien Dat, Doctor of Radiology - Department of Diagnostic Imaging - Vinmec Ha Long International General Hospital. The doctor has more than 14 years of experience in the field of diagnostic imaging.

Diseases related to shoulder pain symptoms are now very common and can be encountered in any subject. In order for this condition not to lead to shoulder osteoarthritis, the patient needs to be properly diagnosed and treated. Therefore, shoulder ultrasound is considered an effective method to examine, diagnose and monitor diseases related to the shoulder joint.

Shoulder joint is a large joint that plays an important role in arm movements. Flexibility in hand activities is directly proportional to the health and flexibility of the shoulder joint. The position of the shoulder joint is between the upper head of the humerus and the fossa of the shoulder blade, which is considered the most susceptible to injury.
Shoulder pain is a symptom of many diseases affecting muscles, bones, ligaments, and joints. Although not a life-threatening symptom, it makes patients limited in daily activities, difficult to move, greatly affecting quality of life.
Anyone can experience this condition, but people after the age of 40 have a higher risk of developing shoulder pain. In particular, the rate of women suffering from the disease is statistically much higher than that of men, from about 30 years old onwards, women will begin to have osteoarthritis, specifically shoulder osteoarthritis, especially symptoms are evident in the post-menopausal period.
Besides shoulder osteoarthritis, other possible causes of shoulder pain include:
Patients with shoulder deformity; Overweight and obese people;

Injury to the shoulder joint or fracture of the bones that make up the shoulder joint such as fracture of the arm, collarbone, shoulder blade; Patient previously worked or carried heavy loads continuously; Occupational habits that require frequent raising of hands such as house builder, painter, electrician...

Besides clinical symptoms such as pain or deformity of the shoulder joint, laboratory tests play an important role in the diagnosis of shoulder osteoarthritis. Among them, shoulder ultrasound is an imaging diagnosis with high diagnostic value in problems such as soft tissue injuries, tendons and muscles (splinter, tear).
Application of high-frequency sound waves, ultrasound is capable of surveying and reconstructing the patient's shoulder joint image. Therefore, the indication of shoulder joint ultrasound is increasingly being expanded to diagnose these important joint-related problems.
Patients when performing an ultrasound of the shoulder joint are often in a lower sitting position than the doctor. Besides, the patient may be asked to perform certain movements during the ultrasound to bring the most accurate image.
The sonographer uses a special transducer that emits high-frequency sound waves to examine both shoulders, starting with the healthy or less symptomatic side.
Ultrasound of the shoulder joint will normally show images of the rotator cuff tendons and extra-rotator cuff tendons (including biceps tendon, superior muscle tendon, infraspinatus tendon, subscapular tendon, minor rotator cuff tendon), joints (incl. including sacroiliac joints, alveolar-arm joints, sternoclavicular joints) and alveolar ligaments.

Shoulder ultrasound is considered an effective aid in diagnosing some of the following problems:
Shoulder pain. The nature of the pain increases gradually, unpleasant throbbing pain, increases with weather changes, pressing on the shoulder area will feel pain at certain points; Swollen shoulder joints; Touching or moving the shoulder area has a sharp pain; Difficulty moving the arm; Contraction or atrophy of the muscles around the shoulder joint; Shoulder injury; Monitoring the results of treatment after shoulder surgery; Problems related to the shoulder joint shape such as deformities or birth defects; Check for abnormalities of the ligaments around the joint; Suspicious cases of abnormality such as tumor, joint effusion, crystal deposition, foreign body... Besides supporting the diagnosis, shoulder ultrasound is also considered a treatment method for some abnormalities. usually after:

Support in the treatment of shoulder injuries or arthritis; Treatment under ultrasound intervention in diseases such as bursitis, bursitis, tendinitis... Support and guide the doctor when needing to aspirate fluid from the joint socket or biopsy.

Clinical reality shows that ultrasound in general plays a very important role in imaging techniques, especially in the diagnosis of soft tissue injuries, tears or sprains, muscles.
The use of sound waves to build and reconstruct images of internal structures in the body has been a great support for doctors in medical examination and treatment. Shoulder joint ultrasound has the following advantages:
With high resolution, shoulder ultrasound will provide immediate images, allowing doctors to fairly accurately identify lesions in soft tissue around the joint, evaluate position and size of structures around the joint, thereby detecting cases of deformity, deviation, swelling, swelling... Ultrasound of the shoulder joint helps to distinguish many different manifestations: fluid accumulation under the layers of wires. ligament, thin thickness of the synovial sac, fluid collection around the head of the biceps tendon... to give accurate pathological diagnoses or different stages of the disease.

The cost of shoulder ultrasound is quite low (cheaper than MRI, MRA...), quite convenient and available in most medical facilities. Shoulder ultrasound is a dynamic, non-invasive, painless, and non-radiative examination method, so patients can be assured of the safety of this imaging technique. For the shoulder ultrasound technique, the patient does not need to prepare anything before the procedure. Shoulder ultrasound can serve as an interventional guide for the treatment of disease. However, ultrasound results are highly dependent on the operator and the equipment. Therefore, when there are signs of shoulder joint disease, patients should go to reputable and specialized medical centers for examination, ultrasound to diagnose diseases and timely treatment.
Vinmec International General Hospital has applied ultrasound technology in examination and diagnosis of many diseases, including musculoskeletal diseases. Ultrasound and imaging techniques at Vinmec are carried out methodically and in accordance with standard procedures by a team of highly qualified medical professionals and modern machinery, thus giving accurate results, contributing to It is not small in determining the disease and stage of shoulder joint disease to coordinate with other specialties to come up with the most effective treatment regimen.
If you have a need for medical examination by modern and highly effective methods at Vinmec, please register for an online examination.