Association of biceps tendon tears with rotator cuff abnormalities: degree of correlation with tears of the anterior and superior portions of the rotator cuff.

OBJECTIVE. This study was performed to examine the relationship and association of abnormalities seen in the long head of the biceps brachii tendon to abnormal findings in the rotator cuff.MATERIALS AND METHODS. One hundred eleven patients underwent MR imaging for shoulder pain followed by arthroscopic or open shoulder surgery from January 1997 to December 2000. Patients were identified by a retrospective search, and all consecutive patients having undergone both MR imaging and surgery were included in the patient cohort. Official MR imaging interpretations were compared with operative reports, and all findings were recorded.RESULTS. Twenty-three patients were identified with partial- or full-thickness tears of the long head of the biceps tendon. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of unenhanced MR imaging of the shoulder for detecting these bicipital tears were 52%, 86%, and 79%, respectively. When a tear was present in the biceps tendon, the prevalence of supraspinatous, infraspinatus, and subsca...