Application Of Virtual Touch Imaging Quantification In Diagnosis Of Supraspinatus Tendon Injury

Objective: To explore the value of virtual touch imaging quantification in diagnosis of supraspinatus tendon injury.Methods: From October 2018 to July 2019,80 patients underwent shoulder arthroscopy for unilateral supraspinatus tendon injury in the Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University were enrolled in our research.Two-dimensional ultrasound and virtual touch imaging quantification examination of rotator cuff were performed in the patients within one week pre-operation,and the clinical data was collected at the same time.Tendinopathy,partial-thickness tear or full-thickness tear of the supraspinatus tendon were diagnosed by two-dimensional ultrasound.Virtual touch imaging quantification was applied to measure the shear-wave velocity of supraspinatus tendon.The patient’s contralateral normal supraspinatus tendon was also examined by virtual touch imaging quantification.The sensitivity,specificity and accuracy of ultrasonic diagnosis of rotator cuff injury were calculated by using arthroscopy as the gold standard.Differences in shear-wave velocity of normal supraspinatus tendons of different sexes and ages were analyzed.Compare the difference of shear-wave velocity among tendinopathy,partial-thickness tear and full-thickness tear.The receiver operating characteristic curve was analyzed.Results: The sensitivity,specificity and accuracy of two-dimensional ultrasound in the diagnosis of supraspinatus tendon tear were 78%,70%,76% respectively.The sensitivity of two-dimensional ultrasound in diagnosing tendinopathy,partial-thickness tear and full-thickness tear were 70%,71%,86% respectively,and the specificity were 90%,86%,88% respectively,the accuracy were 83%,73%,88% respectively.There were no significant differences of shear-wave velocity in normal supraspinatus tendon between sexes and in different ages(P>0.05).There was significant difference in shear-wave velocity among normal supraspinatus tendon(6.68 ± 1.05m/s),tendinopathy(5.66 ± 0.97m/s),partial-thickness tear(4.67 ± 0.63m/s)and full-thickness tear(3.78±0.55 m/s)(P<0.001).The cutoff thresholds was 4.83 m/s for shear-wave velocity to identify supraspinatus tear from tendinopathy,and was 4.08m/s to identify full-thickness tear from partial-thickness tear.Conclusions: Ultrasonic examination has great value for diagnosing supraspinatus tendon injury.Virtual touch imaging quantification can be used to identify the type and degree of injury by measuring shear-wave velocity.Virtual touch imaging quantification can be used as an effective auxiliary diagnostic method for supraspinatus tendon injury pre-operation,and improving the value of ultrasonography in supraspinatus tendon injury.