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Performing Arthrograms in the Shoulder

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Okay, so here's the same shoulder

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we saw on the last vignette.

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Because some of these findings were subtle,

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we weren't quite sure what was happening.

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So we decided to get an MRI, as I

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mentioned, but people in our department and

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orthopedics felt that we couldn't really

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rule out a labral injury also, or other

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rotator cuff problems that may happen.

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So we decided to get an MR arthrogram.

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You sort of see the images up here

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a little bit on the thumbnails.

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But I wanted to show you exactly what

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our approach is in getting arthrograms.

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We do everything under ultrasound guidance.

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And I think this may be a little

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different, uh, than what you do.

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Probably most people do it

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under fluoroscopic guidance.

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But because we're dealing with children, we

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want to limit the radiation as much as possible.

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And we've switched over to ultrasound guidance.

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So, just for your education, I want to show

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you how I would approach this under ultrasound.

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I have brought the image here now.

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I am going to first draw in where I think

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the ultrasound probe is best placed.

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What I first do under ultrasound,

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imagine this is the transducer.

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I have the transducer oriented in a plane that

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is perpendicular to the shaft of the humerus.

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So I put that transducer

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right over here, like so.

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This is sort of a top-down view, if you will.

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Uh, the cord would be over here, it would

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sort of dangle out down this way, okay?

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And I always find this structure.

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Again, that's my best friend.

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That is the coracoid process.

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Once I find the coracoid process, I know that

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I'm about at the level of the subscapularis.

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And then when we find the subscapularis

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tendon, then I just go slightly above.

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So the transducer is translated slightly

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this way until I find the rotator interval.

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And I'm going to show you all this on

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the ultrasound, but at least this gets

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you an idea of what my approach is.

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On the plain film surface.

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And where does the needle come in?

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The needle comes in lateral to medial.

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So it's going to come in like this.

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Okay?

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I'm going to hit the articular

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surface, inject the needle.

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I can actually see the

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contrast filling the joint.

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I can put a little bit of color, uh, to see the

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motion of the fluid, and it's very, very simple.

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So with that in mind, I want to show

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you what the ultrasound of this looks

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like as we inject the joint contrast.

Report

Faculty

Mahesh Thapa, MD, MEd, FAAP

Division Chief of Musculoskeletal Imaging, and Director of Diagnostic Imaging Professor

Seattle Children's & University of Washington

Tags

X-Ray (Plain Films)

Pediatrics

Musculoskeletal (MSK)

Idiopathic

Iatrogenic

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