Leeds Observational Cohort Ultrasound Study (LOCUS)

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Leeds Observational Cohort Ultrasound Study: A prospective observational ultrasound study on patients from primary care

• IRAS ID

  201260

• Contact name

  Philip Conaghan

• Contact email

  p.conaghan@leeds.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of Leeds

• Duration of Study in the UK

  3 years, 3 months, 28 days

• Research summary

  Shoulder pain is common, affecting 7 in every 100 adults. It worsens with age, and will become more common as the UK population ages. Shoulder pain has a negative impact on quality of life and is estimated to cost the UK £310 million per year. The best way to treat shoulder pain is unknown.

  Diagnosis of shoulder problems start with clinical assessment which is often inaccurate. Modern imaging, especially ultrasound, is increasingly used as it provides more accurate diagnosis. However, despite a large increase in the use of ultrasound, its role in improving shoulder pain and function is unclear. Currently, most people are treated in the same way. It is unclear whether certain ultrasound features tell us who will have poor long-term outcomes, and how these people should be treated.

  My research over the past 12 months has shown people who have ultrasound scans on their painful shoulder can be categorised into four groups based on ultrasound findings: those with tears; localised inflammation; generalised inflammation; minimal abnormalities (55% of this last group have no abnormalities). However, further work is needed to confirm the existence of these groups, and how they differ in symptoms and response to steroid injections.

  The aim of this project is to develop ultrasound-based groupings for shoulder pain that leads to specific treatments for each group. In particular I will:

  1. Confirm findings from my retrospective review by undertaking a study to show that people with shoulder pain can be categorised into distinct groups using ultrasound
  2. Explore if these groups differ in pain and function at 6 months, when taking into account other factors such as anxiety and depression
  3. Explore if the groups respond differently to shoulder steroid injections
  4. Explore the possible causes of symptoms in the group with no ultrasound abnormalities

• REC name

  North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 2 Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  16/NE/0108

• Date of REC Opinion

  24 Mar 2016

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion