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To describe the MRI features of deltoid tears and to evaluate tear characteristics in patient groups based on history of trauma and rotator cuff tear (RCT). The records of patients who underwent shoulder MRI at our institution between July 2007 and June 2018 were retrospectively reviewed to identify deltoid tears, and patients were divided into groups based on history of recent trauma and presence of RCT. Images were reviewed to identify the location and size of the deltoid tear; the presence or absence of RCT, muscle atrophy, tendon retraction, humeral head subluxation, soft tissue edema, and additional pathologies were also noted. Medical records were reviewed for information about history of steroid injection, previous rotator cuff surgery, and treatments used. Among 69 patients with deltoid tears (45 men; mean age, 65.2 years; range, 19–89 years), patients with RCTs and no trauma had the highest frequency of deltoid tears in the middle portion (p = 0.005). Only patients with RCTs had undergone steroid injection or rotator cuff surgery. Two patients had deltoid tear without RCT and without recent trauma; these patients demonstrated evidence of calcific tendinopathy and chronic subacromial-subdeltoid bursitis. The middle (acromial) portion of the deltoid is more frequently affected in patients with RCTs than in those with trauma. Although deltoid tears are commonly associated with RCT, calcific tendinopathy and chronic bursitis may also be seen in patients with deltoid tears.

To describe the MRI features of deltoid tears and to evaluate tear characteristics in patient groups based on history of trauma and rotator cuff tear (RCT).The records of patients who underwent shoulder MRI at our institution between July 2007 and June 2018 were retrospectively reviewed to identify deltoid tears, and patients were divided into groups based on history of recent trauma and presence of RCT. Images were reviewed to identify the location and size of the deltoid tear; the presence or absence of RCT, muscle atrophy, tendon retraction, humeral head subluxation, soft tissue edema, and additional pathologies were also noted. Medical records were reviewed for information about history of steroid injection, previous rotator cuff surgery, and treatments used.Among 69 patients with deltoid tears (45 men; mean age, 65.2 years; range, 19-89 years), patients with RCTs and no trauma had the highest frequency of deltoid tears in the middle portion (p = 0.005). Only patients with RCTs had undergone steroid injection or rotator cuff surgery. Two patients had deltoid tear without RCT and without recent trauma; these patients demonstrated evidence of calcific tendinopathy and chronic subacromial-subdeltoid bursitis.The middle (acromial) portion of the deltoid is more frequently affected in patients with RCTs than in those with trauma. Although deltoid tears are commonly associated with RCT, calcific tendinopathy and chronic bursitis may also be seen in patients with deltoid tears.

Leiomyomas are benign tumors of smooth muscle cells. Leiomyomas of somatic soft tissue are a specific class of leiomyoma believed to arise from the smooth muscle cells found in the walls of blood vessels and represent less than 4% of benign, somatic soft tissue tumors. Of the somatic soft tissue tumors, approximately one-third will become calcified. We report an intramuscular, calcified leiomyoma arising from the left deltoid of a 47-year-old Caucasian male. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first reported case of a calcified, intramuscular leiomyoma of the deltoid. Imaging studies and patient presentation were initially suggestive of tumoral calcinosis or myositis ossificans. It was not until pathologic examination that the correct diagnosis of the calcified leiomyoma was made. Leiomyoma should be included in the differential diagnosis of calcified soft tissue masses. If excised with adequate margins, recurrence is unlikely.

The overwhelming majority of glenohumeral dislocations are anterior dislocations that either spontaneously reduce or are reduced at the point of care without significant complications. Posterior dislocations are uncommon, and superior and inferior dislocations are even rarer. We present a case of "superolateral" shoulder dislocation in which the entire rotator cuff was torn either off its insertion or at the musculotendinous junction in combination with a large longitudinal split tear of the deltoid muscle. This allowed the humeral head to dislocate both superiorly and laterally into a subcutaneous position through the tear of the anterolateral deltoid muscle with an associated de-gloving soft tissue lesion. Buttonholing of the humeral head through the deltoid and interposition of the dislocated long head of the biceps tendon and macerated rotator cuff prevented closed reduction of the glenohumeral joint. The resultant radiographic appearance and treatment of this dislocation is unique. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of this dislocation in the literature.

Tenosynovial giant cell tumors (GCTs) typically form in the joints or extra-articular soft tissues such as the tendon sheath, and are benign tumors that commonly occur in the hands or wrists in the third to fifth decades of life. However, the diffuse type of extra-articular GCT arising within muscle is a rare soft tissue tumor, especially in a pediatric patient. In this report, we describe the magnetic resonance imaging and sonographic findings of a rare case of intramuscular diffuse-type GCT in the deltoid muscle of a 9-year-old boy.

Kaposiform hemangioendothelioma (KHE) is a rare tumor that occurs nearly exclusively during infancy and childhood. It has features common to both capillary hemangioma and Kaposi sarcoma and for that reason many terms have been used for these tumors including "Kaposi-like infantile hemangioendothelioma" and "hemangioma with Kaposi sarcoma-like features." KHE typically presents as an ill-defined, red to purple, indurated plaque and is often complicated by the Kasabach-Merritt phenomenon (KMP), a condition of severe thrombocytopenia and consumptive coagulopathy. Knowledge of the radiological findings of this uncommon tumor might be helpful for diagnosis. We present the MRI features of a case of KHE with neither typical skin lesions nor the Kasabach-Merritt phenomenon.

To describe the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) appearances of tears of the deltoid muscle and tendon in patients with rotator cuff tears and without a prior history of shoulder surgery. Deltoid tears diagnosed on MR examinations were prospectively recorded between February 2003 through June 2004. The images of these patients were then retrospectively reviewed to determine the location of the deltoid tear, the presence of rotator cuff tears, tendon retraction, muscle atrophy, degree of humeral head subluxation, bony erosive changes involving the undersurface of the acromion, and the presence of edema or fluid-like signal intensity in the deltoid muscle and overlying subcutaneous tissues. There were 24 (0.3%) patients with deltoid tears; nine men and 15 women. The age range was 54 to 87 (average 73) years. The right side was involved in 20 cases, and the left in four cases. Fifteen patients had full thickness and nine had partial thickness tears of the deltoid. Shoulder pain was the most common presenting symptom. The physical examination revealed a defect in the region of the deltoid in two patients. Nineteen patients had tears in the muscle belly near the musculotendinous junction, and five had avulsion of the tendon from the acromial origin. Full thickness rotator cuff tears were present in all of the patients, and 22 patients had associated muscle atrophy. Subcutaneous edema and fluid-like signal was present in 15 patients. Tears of the deltoid muscle or tendon is an unusual finding, but they can be seen in patients with chronic massive rotator cuff tears. Partial thickness tears tend to involve the undersurface of the deltoid muscle and tendon. Associated findings such as intramuscular cyst or ganglion in the deltoid muscle belly and subcutaneous edema or fluid-like signal overlying the deltoid in a patient with a rotator cuff tear should raise the suspicion of a deltoid tear.

The quantitative assessment of muscle atrophy has a degree of importance in prognosticating rotator cuff treatment. However, it has been conjectured that muscle fat increases with aging. Therefore, we thought that the quantitative assessment of the supraspinatous would be better if made in comparison with a standard of reference such as the deltoid. Consequently, we performed a two-part study, first evaluating supraspinatous changes compared with the deltoid in “normals” with aging, and second, determining if in patients with cuff tears the supraspinatous fat exceeds that of the deltoid. In part 1, we studied 50 patients stratified by decade. In the first sitting, two blinded independent observers quantitatively graded the deltoid (with the supraspinatous obscured) and in the second sitting the same two observers quantitatively graded the supraspinatous (with the deltoid obscured). In part 2 of the study, we evaluated patients with moderate rotator cuff tears (>2 cm) and performed the same blinded, two-sitting, quantitative assessment (with the comparison muscle obscured). We found that muscle atrophy increases with age in patients without tears (0.011/0.028 U/year), although to a greater degree in the deltoid (p = 0.032). Also, in similarly aged patients, quantitative scores of the deltoid closely matched those of the supraspinatous (p = 0.071). Notably, however, in patients with large tears, the supraspinatous showed significant changes disproportionate to those of the deltoid, regardless of patient age (p = 0.044). In the presence of a normal rotator cuff, fatty infiltration increases with age. Age-related changes occur more frequently in the deltoid, verifying this muscle’s potential as a standard of reference. With cuff tears, supraspinatous atrophy was disproportionate to that of the deltoid. Therefore, systematic assessment of supraspinatous muscle atrophy may be more reliable using the deltoid as a control for comparison than assessing it in isolation.

The deltoid is a fascinating muscle with a significant role in shoulder function. It is comprised of three distinct portions (anterior or clavicular, middle or acromial, and posterior or spinal) and acts mainly as an abductor of the shoulder and stabilizer of the humeral head. Deltoid tears are not infrequently associated with large or massive rotator cuff tears and may further jeopardize shoulder function. A variety of other pathologies may affect the deltoid muscle including enthesitis, calcific tendinitis, myositis, infection, tumors, and chronic avulsion injury. Contracture of the deltoid following repeated intramuscular injections could present with progressive abduction deformity and winging of the scapula. The deltoid muscle and its innervating axillary nerve may be injured during shoulder surgery, which may have disastrous functional consequences. Axillary neuropathies leading to deltoid muscle dysfunction include traumatic injuries, quadrilateral space and Parsonage–Turner syndromes, and cause denervation of the deltoid muscle. Finally, abnormalities of the deltoid may originate from nearby pathologies of subdeltoid bursa, acromion, and distal clavicle.

The purpose of the study was to determine if the thickness of the subacromial–subdeltoid (SASD) bursa during dynamic ultrasound and on static views differs between patients with shoulder impingement syndrome and healthy volunteers. Twenty-two patients with a clinical diagnosis of shoulder impingement syndrome and 23 healthy volunteers were recruited. A subset of patients showing an immediate symptom response following intrabursal injection was identified as “injection responders”. Ultrasound of the shoulder was performed on all participants using three standard static views and two dynamic views (before and after arm abduction). The thickness of both the intrabursal fluid and the superficial peribursal fat was measured on all views. The bursal thickness measurements in the two groups were compared using a t test for significance. The mean increase in SASD bursal fluid thickness following arm abduction was not statistically different among all patients (0.39 ± 0.41 mm) and controls (0.35 ± 0.32 mm), p = 0.72. The same was true comparing injection responders (0.46 ± 0.49 mm) with controls, p = 0.41. On static views, greater bursal fluid thickness was found in patients (1.01 ± 0.48 mm) compared with controls (0.67 ± 0.32 mm) when using the short axis view of the supraspinatus, p = 0.006. No statistically significant difference was found between injection responders and controls when measuring peribursal fat thickness on any view. Gathering of the SASD bursa demonstrated during dynamic ultrasound does not necessarily indicate painful impingement of the bursa as it is found to a similar degree in patients with a clinical diagnosis of impingement and healthy volunteers.

The quadrilateral space impingement syndrome is a clinical syndrome resulting from compression of the axillary nerve and the posterior circumflex humeral artery, with subsequent focal atrophy of the teres minor, with or without involvement of portions of the deltoid muscle. This entity has many etiologies. We are reporting a case of this syndrome caused by a bone spike from a malunited old scapular fracture following a motor vehicle accident. The bone spike impinged on the axillary nerve as it passes through the quadrilateral space, causing focal atrophy of the teres minor muscle. The abnormality was well demonstrated by MD-CT.

A tear at the origin of the deltoid muscle is uncommon and usually occurs as a complication of shoulder surgery. We report a case of spontaneous deltoid detachment as a complication of massive rotator cuff tear in a 70-year-old woman evaluated by standard radiographs, ultrasound, arthrography and MR-arthrography. We present the multimodality imaging findings with review of the literature. We found that ultrasound is an accurate modality in detecting and assessing spontaneous detachment of the deltoid muscle. As ultrasound is a noninvasive, low-cost, and universally available imaging modality we suggest using ultrasound as the first modality for evaluation of spontaneous detachment of the deltoid muscle.

Rotator cuff tears following shoulder dislocation are the most common cause of prolonged shoulder pain. However, 9 to 18% of patients who have anterior dislocation actually suffer from prolonged pain due to axillary nerve injury [1]. The axillary nerve (C5, C6) is a branch of the posterior cord of the brachial plexus and exits the axilla to enter the quadrilateral space. This space is bounded by the teres minor muscle superiorly, the teres major muscle inferiorly, the long head of the triceps muscle medially, and the surgical neck of the humerus laterally. The anterior branch of the axillary nerve supplies the anterior deltoid muscle and overlying skin, while the posterior branch supplies the teres minor muscle, the posterior deltoid muscle, the skin overlying the distal deltoid muscle, and proximal triceps [2]. In an anterior shoulder dislocation, axillary nerve injury presumably occurs because of inferior displacement of the humeral head causing compression of the quadrilateral space [1]. Clinical symptoms of axillary nerve injury include vague shoulder pain, decreased strength on abduction, and abnormal sensation in the cutaneous distribution of the axillary nerve. The definitive diagnostic test used to confirm the clinical diagnosis of axillary nerve injury is electromyography (EMG). However, EMG is painful and operatordependent. MR imaging, on the other hand, is a noninvasive technique that can help provide a diagnosis, especially when other diagnoses besides axillary nerve injury are being considered [3]. Anatomical distribution of the signal changes on MR distinguishes nerve injury from direct traumatic injury of muscles. With axillary nerve injury, some or all of the muscles supplied by the axillary nerve will be affected, depending on the location of the injury along the path of the axillary nerve [1]. MR signal from acute denervation within the first 24 h may manifest as increased short tau inversion recovery (STIR) signal and as increased apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) [4, 5]. Absence of edema of overlying soft tissues allows distinction of acute denervation from acute traumatic muscle injury. Subacute muscle denervation causes uniform muscle edema in approximately 2–4 weeks. Shifting of water from the intracellular to the extracellular space causes increased MR signal in the fluid-sensitive The case presentation can be found at doi:10.1007/s00256-009-0846-z.