Incidence of rotator cuff tears in the setting of calcific tendinopathy on MRI: a case controlled comparison.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the incidence of rotator cuff tears on shoulder MRI in patients who have rotator cuff calcific tendinopathy with that in patients without calcific tendinopathy in a frequency-matched case-control study.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Retrospective review shoulder MRIs of 86 patients with rotator cuff calcific tendinopathy and an 86-patient age-, gender-, and laterality-matched control group using frequency matching.

RESULTS: No statistically significant difference (odds ratio: 0.72, 95% confidence interval: 0.38-1.38, p = 0.32) was found in the incidence of rotator cuff tear in the calcific tendinopathy (27.9%) and control groups (34.9%). A significant (p < 0.001) difference in the size of rotator cuff tear was seen between the two groups, with 12.5% of tears being full-thickness in the calcific tendinopathy group and 63.3% of tears being full-thickness in the control group. Only 3 of the 24 (12.5%) rotator cuff tears present in the calcific tendinopathy group occurred at the site of tendon calcification.

CONCLUSION: Patients presenting with indeterminate shoulder pain and rotator cuff calcific tendinopathy are not at increased risk for having a rotator cuff tear compared with similar demographic patients without calcific tendinopathy presenting with shoulder pain. Calcific tendinopathy and rotator cuff tears likely arise from different pathological processes.