MAPPING OF ULTRASONOGRAPHY METHODS AND SHOULDER SOFT-TISSUE INJURY LOCATIONS IN PATIENTS WITH STROKE: A SCOPING REVIEW

TL;DR

This study reviews how ultrasonography is used to assess shoulder injuries in stroke patients, highlighting common methods and injury locations.

Contribution

The study provides a comprehensive overview of ultrasonography methods and injury locations in stroke survivors' shoulders.

Findings

Most studies used linear transducer probes and frequencies of 5–7 MHz for ultrasonography.

Common injury locations included the long head of the biceps tendon and supraspinatus tendon.

Ultrasonography is a potential tool for rapid assessment of shoulder soft-tissue injuries in stroke patients.

Abstract

To map studies that use ultrasonography to assess shoulder soft-tissue injuries in stroke survivors and identify the methods and soft-tissue injury locations.

Scoping review.

A literature search was performed through PubMed and ICHUSI from 1966 to May 2023 using the terms “stroke”, “shoulder soft-tissue injury”, and “ultrasonography”. Original articles that used ultrasonography to evaluate shoulder soft-tissue injuries in patients with stroke were selected. Extracted data included study design, phase, sample size, ultrasonographic methods (probe, evaluation position, frequency, and assessment site), and soft-tissue injury location.

Among 249 articles identified, 10 met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. In ultrasonographic methods, over half the studies used linear transducer probes, evaluated participants in a sitting position, and applied frequencies of 5–7 MHz. Common assessment sites were the supraspinatus tendon, long head of the biceps tendon, subscapularis tendon, infraspinatus tendon, and subacromial-subdeltoid bursa. The most common locations of shoulder soft-tissue injuries were the long head of the biceps tendon (effusion/tendinitis) and the supraspinatus tendon (tear/tendinitis).

This study identified ultrasonographic methods and hemiplegic shoulder soft-tissue injury locations. These findings may help facilitate evaluations and enable proper assessment of shoulder soft-tissue injuries in patients with stroke using ultrasonography in clinical practice.

Patients with stroke often have dysfunctional shoulders, and soft-tissue injuries are one of the contributing factors. Anatomical assessment is essential for the hemiplegic shoulder in patients with stroke. Ultrasonography has the potential to be a useful and rapid method for evaluating shoulder soft tissues. However, this method has not been established and is infrequently used in stroke survivors. The present review summarizes 10 known studies in which ultrasonography was used to evaluate soft-tissue injuries in the hemiplegic shoulder. This study helps guide the evaluation of hemiplegic shoulder soft-tissue injuries in clinical practice.

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