Prevalence of triceps tendon tears on MRI of the elbow and clinical correlation.
OBJECTIVE
Triceps tendon injuries are reported to be very rare. To our knowledge, there have been no studies describing its prevalence or injury patterns on MR imaging. The purpose of this retrospective study was to determine the prevalence and patterns of triceps injuries based on a large series of consecutive MR examinations. Clinical correlation was obtained.


METHODS
From 801 consecutive elbow MR examinations over a 15-year period, 28 patients with 30 triceps tendon injuries were identified and graded as partial tendon tear and complete tendon tear. The patients' medical records were reviewed to determine age, gender, cause of tears, and management.


RESULTS
The prevalence of triceps tendon injuries was 3.8%. There were 5 women and 23 men with partial or complete tears (mean age: 46.6 years; range: 2.7 to 75.1 years). The most common injury was partial tear, found in 18 patients. There were 10 patients with 12 complete tears (2 had re-torn following surgical repair). A tear was suspected in 12 out 28 (43%) patients prior to the MRI. The most common presenting symptom was pain. The most common cause was athletic injury (8 patients [29%], including weightlifting [2 patients]). Tendon tear was found to be a complication of infection in 6 patients, and in 3 patients the tears were a complication of steroid use. Thirteen tendon tears were surgically repaired (8 of these were complete tears).


CONCLUSIONS
Triceps tendon injury is not as rare as commonly reported and may often be clinically underdiagnosed.
Department of Radiology, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS 39216, USA. MKoplas@umc.edu
Monica C
MC
Koplas
Erika
E
Schneider
Murali
M
Sundaram
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004551:Elbow Joint / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013708:Tendon Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis*