Acromial angle on radiographs of the shoulder: correlation with the impingement syndrome and rotator cuff tears.

OBJECTIVE

This study was undertaken to determine the reproducibility of measurements of an acromial angle on radiographs and to correlate those measurements with the presence of the impingement syndrome and rotator cuff tears.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Ninety-nine shoulders in 95 patients who had an arch radiograph and had undergone shoulder arthroscopy were included in this retrospective study. The acromial angle was measured on the arch view of the shoulder independently by three observers who were blinded to the name, history, and arthroscopic results. The angle was measured at the intersection of lines drawn along the inferior cortex of the anterior and posterior portions of the acromion. Interobserver variability was determined by the intercorrelation coefficient (a test of reproducibility of quantitative measurements). The average of the three measurements for each patient was correlated with the preoperative diagnosis and the arthroscopic findings.

RESULTS

A correlation was found between increasing severity of cuff disease as determined on arthroscopy and increasing acromial angle (p < .01). In 67 patients (70 shoulders) with impingement, patients with a full-thickness tear (29%) accounted for 43% of those with an angle of 30 degrees or greater. The average acromial angle for patients with impingement was greater than that for either patients with instability or patients with trauma (p < .05 for both). An angle of 25 degrees or greater was measured in 63% of patients with impingement but in only 18% of those with instability. The average acromial angle in patients with impingement and an intact rotator cuff was also greater than the average angle in patients with instability (p = .001). The interobserver variability had an intercorrelation coefficient of 0.90.

CONCLUSION

The acromial angle is an objective and fairly reproducible measure of anterior acromial shape. The angle is useful in identifying patients with a greater likelihood of having a rotator cuff tear and in distinguishing patients with primary impingement from those with instability.