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Aim: The posture of school children was examined in order to establish whether possible differences in clinically normal and insufficient posture can be detected by means of ultrasound topometry., Method: 105 healthy school children (56 female, 49 male) with an average age of 8 years (+/- 0.9) were examined. To classify the children as having sufficient or insufficient posture the Matthiass posture test was used. While the child stood in a relaxed position, the profile of the spine was measured with a topometric digitiser, recording each spinal processus from C7 to L5., Results: 42 children (22 female, 20 male) showed an insufficient posture during the Matthiass test. The topometrically measured angles of kyphosis and lordosis were significantly smaller in these children, corresponding to a clinically greater thoracic kyphosis and lumbar lordosis. No significant differences in the lateral and anterior-posterior trunk deviation, nor in the range of trunk sway in the relaxed standing position could be observed., Conclusion: Using ultrasound topometry, the posture of children with sufficient and insufficient posture can be differentiated by measuring, the angles of kyphosis and lordosis. This quantification could be used for objective monitoring of the posture.

Aim: Sonographic evaluation is a reliable method for the detection of rotator cuff tears. However, the diagnostic value of the different echogenic patterns of the rotator cuff, especially in elderly patients, has led to a controversial discussion. The present study elucidates whether three-dimensional ultrasound can increase the diagnostic significance of different sonographic echogenicity patterns of tendons compared to histopathological tissue degeneration., Method: To evaluate the sonographic appearance of tendons in elderly patients, the sonographic echogenicity of 33 rotator cuff specimens with macroscopic absence of rotator cuff lesions was classified in three groups and compared with the histopathological morphology., Results: The sonographic appearance of the degenerated rotator cuff in elder patients correlates with a reduced sonographic echogenicity. The two-dimensional ultrasound evaluation of the rotator cuff led to a sensitivity of 84.0%, a specificity of 42.9%, a positive predictive value of 63.6%, a negative predictive value of 69.2%, and an accuracy of 65.2%. The three-dimensional ultrasound evaluation of the rotator cuff led to a sensitivity of 91.6%, a specificity of 50.0%, a positive predictive value of 66.6%, a negative predictive value of 84.6% and an accuracy of 71.%, respectively., Conclusion: As a high incidence of false positive results has to be taken into consideration, neither the two-dimensional, nor the three-dimensional ultrasound evaluation seems to lead to a reliable correlation.