Evaluation of inferior glenohumeral capsuloligamentous complex involvement in adhesive capsulitis with shear wave elastography: Mri correlational study

Aim: Evaluation of the contribution of sonoelastographic findings to the diagnosis in cases with a clinical diagnosis of adhesive capsulitis and inferior glenohumeral capsuloligamentous complex involvement in MR imaging. Material and methods: Our study was conducted at Düzce University Medical Faculty Hospital between January 2022 and October 2022; 30 patients (13 males and 17 females) diagnosed with adhesive capsulitis based on evaluations conducted by clinical specialists, primarily in the fields of physical medicine and rehabilitation, orthopedics and traumatology, and confirmed by two experienced radiologists specializing in musculoskeletal imaging through the evaluation of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Furthermore, a control group of 34 individuals (16 males and 18 females) was included in the study who were not suspected of having adhesive capsulitis based on clinical examination and MRI. MRI was performed using a 3 Tesla MRI device (Siemens Magnetom Skyra, Germany), and sonoelastography was performed using a Siemens Acuson-S2000 US device with the 9L4 (4-9 MHz) frequency linear probe using the Virtual Touch Quantification (VTQ/ARFI) method. Shear wave elastography method was applied to the inferior glenohumeral capsuloligamentous complex and SWV values were obtained. Statistics were applied to categorical data for comparisons and complementary analyses. Results: In the study, the degree of stiffness in m/s was obtained by sonoelastorphy, especially the anterior band of the inferior capsuloligamentous complex of the patient and control groups. There was no significant difference between the groups according to age and gender (p=0.279). SWV values were found to be significantly higher in patients than in the control group (p<0.001). The variation of velocity values in patient and control groups according to gender occurs differently. While the speed value in the patient group was higher in men, it was observed that the speed value in women was higher in the control group. Conclusion: As a result of our study, it was determined that cases with clinical and radiological confirmation of adhesive capsulitis had a statistically significant (p<0.001) hardening in the inferior glenohumeral capsulololigamentous complex compared to the control group by sonoelastography. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that sonoelastography is a helpful, practical, and reliable imaging method in the evaluation of inferior glenohumeral capsuloligamentous complex involvement in cases of adhesive capsulitis through MRI. Further studies are needed to investigate this matter more extensively. Key Words: Adhesive capsulitis, elastography, inferior glenohumeral capsuloligamentous complex shear wave, shoulder