For the purposes of this document, it is difficult to ascertain the acuity of the injuries from this report. Furthermore, MRI is particularly useful in the assessment of biceps tears [21-24]. MRI has an improved sensitivity for the detection of partial tears of the biceps and triceps tendons. In a study of 77 patients, Nicolay et al [24] showed partial rupture of the long head of the biceps with an intact short head of the biceps to be the most common injury. On the other hand, isolated complete ruptures of the long head represented the least common injury pattern. Traumatic ruptures had a significantly higher association with ruptures of the short head of the biceps tendon, whereas ruptures of the long head of the biceps tendon accounted for 89% of atraumatic ruptures. Acute Elbow and Forearm Pain diagnosis of partial distal biceps tendon tears. However, the interrater reliability was better for FABS view and significantly more accurate than surgical findings in grading the extent of pathology. MRI is also useful in the assessment of rare triceps tears [21-24]. Lee et al [23] evaluated a small subset of patients and found 2 major causes for acute traumatic rupture of the triceps tendon at the elbow. A fall on an outstretched hand was categorized as an indirect injury, whereas a direct blow to the triceps by an object was considered a direct injury. The authors found that the indirect injury was most likely to result in injury of the lateral and long heads of the distal triceps tendon with an intact medial head tendon. Direct injuries were more likely to have a full-thickness rupture with an odds ratio of 1.75 (95% confidence interval, 0.92-3.32; P = . 02). In addition, they found that the indirect injuries had associated ligamentous injuries with an odds ratio of 0.13 (95% confidence interval, 0.02-0.78; P < . 001). However, one paper noted the overestimation of triceps tear severity compared with surgical assessment [28].
Acute Elbow and Forearm Pain. For the purposes of this document, it is difficult to ascertain the acuity of the injuries from this report. Furthermore, MRI is particularly useful in the assessment of biceps tears [21-24]. MRI has an improved sensitivity for the detection of partial tears of the biceps and triceps tendons. In a study of 77 patients, Nicolay et al [24] showed partial rupture of the long head of the biceps with an intact short head of the biceps to be the most common injury. On the other hand, isolated complete ruptures of the long head represented the least common injury pattern. Traumatic ruptures had a significantly higher association with ruptures of the short head of the biceps tendon, whereas ruptures of the long head of the biceps tendon accounted for 89% of atraumatic ruptures. Acute Elbow and Forearm Pain diagnosis of partial distal biceps tendon tears. However, the interrater reliability was better for FABS view and significantly more accurate than surgical findings in grading the extent of pathology. MRI is also useful in the assessment of rare triceps tears [21-24]. Lee et al [23] evaluated a small subset of patients and found 2 major causes for acute traumatic rupture of the triceps tendon at the elbow. A fall on an outstretched hand was categorized as an indirect injury, whereas a direct blow to the triceps by an object was considered a direct injury. The authors found that the indirect injury was most likely to result in injury of the lateral and long heads of the distal triceps tendon with an intact medial head tendon. Direct injuries were more likely to have a full-thickness rupture with an odds ratio of 1.75 (95% confidence interval, 0.92-3.32; P = . 02). In addition, they found that the indirect injuries had associated ligamentous injuries with an odds ratio of 0.13 (95% confidence interval, 0.02-0.78; P < . 001). However, one paper noted the overestimation of triceps tear severity compared with surgical assessment [28].