Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to draw attention to the lesions of the shoulders in Parkinson’s disease (PD) and to evaluate the difference between the patients with mild and severe PD.

Patients and Methods: Sixty-seven shoulders of 35 patients (14 females, 53 males; mean age, 66.4±9.5 years; range 40 to 85 years) with PD were included in the study. Patients were divided into two groups according to the Hoehn & Yahr (H&Y) clinical stage: in the first group 30 shoulders of patients with mild PD (H&Y stage I-II), and in the second group 37 shoulders of patients with severe PD (H&Y stage III-IV) have been evaluated. All of the patients underwent shoulder sonography. Thicknesses of the rotator cuff tendons and the acromiohumeral distances were measured and abnormal findings have been recorded. Data were statistically analyzed by the t-test and chi-square tests.

Results: There was no significant difference in any of the parameters between the patients with mild and severe PD (p>0.05). Effusion in the subacromial-subdeltoid bursa was detected in severe patients (29.7%) more often than mild ones (16.7%). Full-thickness tears were seen in the supraspinatus tendon of three severe patients (8.1%) and in the infraspinatus tendon of one patient (2.7%).

Conclusion: Advanced shoulder pathologies are more frequently seen in severe patients with PD than the mild ones. Sonography can be the first-line imaging modality in the PD patients who cannot undergo magnetic resonance imaging because of rest tremor.