The Shoulder: Back to Basics

This issue of Seminars in Musculoskeletal Radiology accompanies the annual meeting of the European Society of Skeletal Radiology being held in York, UK, June 18 to 20, 2015. That meeting takes shoulder imaging as its theme, and expert speakers from the meeting have contributed the articles in this edition. A recent issue of this journal focused on advanced shoulder imaging,[1] and to provide a contrast we have aimed for a more basic approach to the subject. Although this may particularly appeal to the general radiologist with an interest in skeletal imaging and to radiologists in training, we hope experts in the field will also find the topics of interest.

MRI and ultrasound are the most widely used modalities for imaging the shoulder. The first two articles address normal anatomy of the shoulder as seen using these modalities; the technique for shoulder ultrasound is also described.

The next group of articles addresses common patterns of internal joint derangement in the shoulder, along with shoulder impingement syndromes. These clinical conditions provide the most common indications for shoulder imaging and are covered in detail including abnormalities of the rotator interval and internal impingement syndromes, areas that are becoming increasingly important as they become better understood by clinicians.

The final three articles review soft tissue masses about the shoulder, the acromioclavicular joint, and shoulder arthritis. Conventional radiographs continue to play an important role in the diagnosis of acromioclavicular joint disorders and shoulder arthritis, and this modality is well covered in these articles.

We hope readers find the articles useful. We would like to thank the editors for giving us the opportunity to serve as guest editors. We also extend our thanks to all the authors in this issue for their excellent contributions.

• References

• 1 Bencardino JT. Advanced shoulder imaging. Semin Musculoskel Radiol 2014; 18 (4) 436-437