Rotator Cuff Impingement on Real MRI: 5 Cases, Normal to Full-Thickness Tear

Rotator cuff impingement on real MRI. Five anonymised shoulder cases, from a near-normal baseline to a full-thickness supraspinatus tear with retraction and muscle atrophy. We also explain the classifications used in current reporting: the Davidson & Burkhart tear pattern, the Patte retraction stages, and the Goutallier grades of fatty infiltration. Chapters 0:00 Introduction 0:14 Case 1: Near-normal baseline 0:58 Case 2: AC osteoarthritis, impingement, tendinosis 1:39 Case 3: Partial-thickness tear 2:25 Case 4: Full-thickness tear (15 mm gap) 2:45 What to report: pattern, size and retraction (Patte), extension 3:48 Muscle atrophy and Goutallier grades 4:31 Case 5: Full-thickness tear (40 mm gap) 5:01 Y-view, r-view and quantitative fat fraction 5:23 Summary 5:42 Question for you: which tear pattern? Your turn: look again at Case 4 and Case 5. Which tear pattern does each one have: crescent, U-shaped, L-shaped, or reverse-L? Write your answer in the comments. We will give the answer in the next episode. References 1. Davidson J, Burkhart SS. The geometric classification of rotator cuff tears. Arthroscopy 2010;26:417-424. 2. Patte D. Classification of rotator cuff lesions. Clin Orthop Relat Res 1990;254:81-86. 3. Goutallier D, et al. Fatty muscle degeneration in cuff ruptures. Pre- and postoperative evaluation by CT scan. Clin Orthop Relat Res 1994;304:78-83. 4. Yu X-K, et al. Types of posterior upper rotator cuff tears and intramuscular fat infiltration on MRI. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2022;10:859174. CC BY 4.0. Figures re-arranged. 5. Xie J, et al. Quantitative fatty infiltration of the supraspinatus muscle. Am J Sports Med 2025;53(4):952-960. 6. Zhang G, et al. A new section of shoulder MRI to assess fat infiltration of the rotator cuff muscles. J Orthop Surg Res 2025;20:433. Want to try AI reporting? Visit radweave.ai and use invite code BETA. This video is for education only. All cases are anonymised. #radiology #MRI #shoulder #rotatorcuff