A semi quantitative MRI-based shoulder osteoarthritis severity (SOAS) assessment method emerges as a significant scoring method to evaluate the extremity of shoulder osteoarthritis (OA), evident from the results of study published in the ‘Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging.’

The shoulder OA is a severe case of arthritis that causes intense pain and disability. The impediment of shoulder OA related degenerative changes is achieved via various surgical procedures. But, there is no MRI-based scoring system available, which can be used to rate osteoarthritis-related changes after the implementation of the treatment. Therefore, Pia M. Jungmann and colleagues assessed semi quantitative MRI-based shoulder osteoarthritis severity (SOAS) scoring method by conducting a retrospective analysis among 60 patients. These patients equally grouped into four classes of radiographic grades of OA. A SOAS scoring method from range 0 (no OA) to 100 (most critical OA) was established by considering the shoulder MRIs.

A total of six readers assessed the MRIs. The cartilage, joint capsule, acromion, labral-bicipital-complex, rotator cuff and osseous findings were evaluated for severity of degeneration. Radiographic Kellgren-Lawrence (KL), Samilson and Hamada gradings showed a significant association with SOAS scores. The methods of statistical analysis used in the analysis was t-tests, receiver-operating characteristics (ROC), interclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and Pearson correlations.

An excellent inter (ICC 0.96–0.98) and intra-reader (ICC = 0.99) agreement was noticed for SOAS score. A significant association of SOAS was seen with KL and Samilson scores (R = 0.82; p<0.001). The osseous findings and cartilage exhibited the higher association with Samilson scores (R = 0.86, 0.82; respectively with p<0.001). Also, the SOAS scores were different for different Samilson grades; 0, 1, 2 and 3. Overall, SOAS ability to determine incident radiographic shoulder OA (AUC = 0.91) was outstanding. As per study outcomes, semi quantitative MRI-based SOAS score system shows excellent reliability to rate shoulder OA severity and related structure-specific degeneration.