Objective To study the ultrasonographic characteristics of rotator cuff tear after shoulder trauma,and to evaluate the value of ultrasonography in the diagnosis of rotator cuff tear.Methods Thirty-three patients suspected as rotator cuff tear in acute injuries were detected by ultrasound.Sonographic examinations were compared with surgery,arthrography or MRI.Results Sonographic characteristics include: invisibility of the cuff,focal defect of the rotator cuff,focal abnormal echogenicity within the cuff,focal thinned cuff.The sensitivity of sonography in detecting rotator cuff tear was 92% (22/24),the specificity was 82% (9/11),and the accuracy was 94% (31/33).Conclusions Sonography is the preferred examination method in the diagnosis of rotator cuff tear.

Objective To investigate the clinical value of quality intima-media thicknes (QIMT),quality arterial stiffness(QAS) and XStrain in assessing the ventricular-arterial coupling (VAC) in patients with uremia.Methods Sixty-five patients with uremia and 30 normal subjects were enrolled in this study as the uremic group and control group respectively.Ultrasound examination for the cardiac and carotid artery was performed and some parameters were obtained,such as left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF),E/e,Tei index,stiffness (β),compliance coefficinet (CC),pulse wave velocity (PWV),intima-media thicknes (IMT),strain,and so on.The sum of left ventricular systolic radial strain and carotid arterial diastolic radial strain was used as a new parameter (VACs) for assessing VAC.The correlation between VACs and VACv,a traditional method to evaluate VAC,was analyzed.The parameters obtained by ultrasonic techniques were compared between two groups.The intra-and inter-observer reliability of XStrain was assessed by intraclass correlation coefficient.The multiple linear regression and ROC curve were used to analyze the independent factor of cardiovascular dysfunction.Results ①The pulse pressure,E/e,Tei index,as well as β,PWV and IMT were larger in uremic group than control group significantly (P ＜0.05).②The function of VAC was decreased in uremic group,and the VACv and VACs were lower than control group significantly (P ＜0.05).③There was strong positive relation between VACs and VACv (r =0.908,P =0.000).The reproducibility of XStrain technique was well.④VACs,β,VACv and PWV could be considered as independent factor of cardiovascular dysfunction and performance of VACs was the largest (standardized coefficient was-0.582).A cutoff value of VACs for assessing cardiovascular dysfunction was less than 23.60,which had both higher sensitivity and specificity (96.4％,81.1％).Conclusions The QIMT,QAS and XStrain can be used to assess cardiovascular structure,function and VAC accurately and globally,which can be consider as an effective method for detecting cardiovascular complication and improving prognosis of uremic patients.