Treatment for Frozen Shoulder Combined with Calcific Tendinitis of the Supraspinatus

• Main Authors: Shen-Kai Chen, Pei-Hsi Chou, Yi-Jing Lue, Yen-Mou Lu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2008-02-01
• Series: Kaohsiung Journal of Medical Sciences
• Subjects: calcific tendinitis; frozen shoulder
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1607551X08701013

Calcific tendinitis of the shoulder is a process that involves calcium deposition in the rotator cuff tendons. It is usually a self-limiting process and is often chronic in nature. However, it can lead to acute pain resulting in frozen shoulder syndrome. We report 32 cases in which frozen shoulder was associated with calcific tendinitis of the supraspinatus. The aim of this study was to use arthroscopic brisement of the glenohumeral joint and make multiple punctures in the calcific spot to treat the frozen shoulder associated with calcific tendinitis of the supraspinatus. In our study, 30 patients had satisfactory results after a 2-year follow-up. Five patients experienced some postoperative calcium shadows, but there was also greater improvement in the range of motion and pain relief in this study compared with other reports in the literature of frozen shoulder cases.