The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (American). 2009;91:2367-2375.
doi:10.2106/JBJS.H.00417
© 2009 The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc.
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Correlation of Radiographic Muscle Cross-Sectional Area with Glenohumeral Deformity in Children with Brachial Plexus Birth Palsy

Peter M. Waters, MD1, James T. Monica, MD2, Brandon E. Earp, MD3, David Zurakowski, PhD1 and Donald S. Bae, MD1

1 Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, Hunnewell 2, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115. E-mail address for P.M. Waters: peter.waters{at}childrens.harvard.edu
2 Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Residency Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Orthopaedic Teaching Office, GRB 622, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114
3 Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115

Investigation performed at Children's Hospital Boston, Boston, Massachusetts

Disclosure: In support of their research for or preparation of this work, one or more of the authors received, in any one year, outside funding or grants in excess of $10,000 from the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation and the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America. Neither they nor a member of their immediate families received payments or other benefits or a commitment or agreement to provide such benefits from a commercial entity. No commercial entity paid or directed, or agreed to pay or direct, any benefits to any research fund, foundation, division, center, clinical practice, or other charitable or nonprofit organization with which the authors, or a member of their immediate families, are affiliated or associated.

Background: Muscle imbalance about the shoulder in children with persistent brachial plexus birth palsy is thought to contribute to glenohumeral joint deformity. We quantified cross-sectional areas of the internal and external rotator muscles in the shoulder by magnetic resonance imaging in patients with chronic brachial plexopathy and the correlation between these muscle cross-sectional area ratios and glenohumeral deformity. The purposes of this investigation were to evaluate differences in the ratios between affected and unaffected shoulders in the same individual and to assess whether an increased internal to external rotator muscle cross-sectional area correlated with greater glenohumeral deformity.

Methods: This cohort study consisted of magnetic resonance imaging of seventy-four patients with chronic neuropathic changes about the shoulder from brachial plexus birth palsy. There were at least nine patients with scans available for each of the five classified subtypes of glenohumeral deformity: type I (fifteen patients), type II (seventeen), type III (seventeen), type IV (sixteen), and type V (nine). Cross-sectional areas of the pectoralis major, teres minor-infraspinatus (external rotators), and subscapularis muscles were measured. The supraspinatus muscle cross-sectional area could not be reliably measured. The ratio of subscapularis to external rotators, the ratio of pectoralis major to external rotators, and the compound ratio of subscapularis and pectoralis major to external rotators were compared with the severity of the glenohumeral deformity. Passive range of motion, Mallet and Toronto clinical scores, and Narakas type were also compared with the severity of the glenohumeral deformity and the muscle cross-sectional area measurements.

Results: Muscle cross-sectional area ratios were significantly correlated with glenohumeral deformity type. The mean ratio of pectoralis major to external rotators for affected shoulders over all deformity types compared with that for unaffected shoulders was significantly increased by 30% (p < 0.001); the mean ratio for subscapularis and pectoralis major to external rotators, by 19% (p = 0.015), and the mean ratio for subscapularis to external rotators, by 10% (p = 0.008). There was a significant increase in the ratio of pectoralis major to external rotators in affected shoulders within each type of deformity. Analysis of variance indicated higher ratios of pectoralis major to external rotator muscle cross-sectional areas in more severe deformity types (p < 0.001). There were significant differences in external rotation measurements with the shoulder at 90° of abduction only among glenohumeral deformity types I, II, and III (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: The degree of muscle imbalance between internal and external rotators about the shoulder is measurable by magnetic resonance imaging in children with persistent brachial plexopathy, and the imbalance correlates with the degree of glenohumeral deformity. Our results may provide useful information to guide the timing and the choice of operative intervention in these children.


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