Shoulder Arthrograms: Your Questions Answered!



What is it?
·        An arthrogram is a radiology study of a joint where contrast or sometimes called as “dye” is put in the joint with images then taken of the joint.
·        The images can be taken with the fluoroscopy/ x-ray system or with MRI or CT.


Why do we do it?
·        The contrast distends the joint, allowing us to see soft tissue structures about the joint better.
·        For the shoulder, an arthrogram may be requested by your doctor for the following reasons:
o   Suspected tear of the labrum or cartilage lining of the joint
o   To show whether a tear of the tendons of the rotator cuff is full-thickness, meaning going all the way through the tendon
o   To evaluate the shoulder after surgery
How do we do it?
·        We will cleanse your skin at the shoulder with a solution to make sure we do not introduce infection.
·        Local anesthetic or numbing medicine will usually be injected into the soft tissues to numb the shoulder – this part burns but the burning only lasts a short time, then you should just feel pressure.
·        We will place a small needle into the joint, using our fluoroscopy machine and low dose x-rays to make sure we get the needle precisely in the joint space. A small amount of iodinated contrast is usually injected to make sure the needle is in the joint space.
·        The contrast material is then injected to distend the shoulder joint-iodinated contrast material if doing a conventional arthrogram or CT or dilute gadolinium, a heavy metal contrast material if being followed by MRI. This will make the shoulder feel tight.
Do I need to do anything to prepare for the test?
·        No preparation needed.
·        We will ask for a list of your medications and drug allergies. If you have had a prior reaction to a contrast material, we will discuss the reaction with you and may adjust how we do the procedure.

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