Quantification of a glenoid defect with three-dimensional computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging: a cadaveric study.

Bone loss of the glenoid is a common finding in anterior glenohumeral instability. Several methods to measure the size of a glenoid defect have been described but have not been validated. In this study, 14 cadaver glenoids with a randomly created anteroinferior glenoid defect were used for validation of the so-called circle method. Measurements were done by 2 researchers on digital photographs, 3-dimensional (3D) computed tomography (CT) scans, and magnetic resonance images (MRI). The correlation coefficient (r(2)) for comparing measurements from the digital photographs with the CT scans was 0.97 for researcher 1 and 0.90 for researcher 2. When they compared digital images with MRI, the r(2) was 0.93 for researcher 1 and 0.92 for researcher 2. No statistical differences were found between the 2 researchers. The circle method is a simple method for preoperative quantification of a glenoid defect. Measurements can be done with 3D CT scans as well as MRI.