Kim JY, et al. - Researchers examined standard non-enhancing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for its diagnostic accuracy in detecting the long head of the biceps tendon (LHBT) pathology. In addition, they sought for the most useful diagnostic signs on MRI. According to tear progress, they classified arthroscopic findings and used these as a reference standard: Type I, normal tendon; Type II, hourglass-shaped hypertrophic tendon with fraying extending into the bicipital groove; Type III, partial tear involving less than 50% of tendon width at the intraarticular region without fraying in the bicipital groove; Type IV, partial tear involving more than 50% of tendon width and extending into the bicipital groove; and Type V, complete tear (cutoff) of the tendon. Analyzing a total of 554 patients with preoperative 3-Tesla (3 T) MRI who underwent arthroscopic surgery for rotator cuff tears, they identified arthroscopic findings of LHBT pathology in 124 (22.4%) cases. They noted a high diagnostic value of the standard non-enhancing 3 T MRI in preoperative detection of LHBT pathology. Increase in its accuracy was noted when they set the diagnostic criterion as ‘2 or more abnormal signs (diameter change, contour irregularity, and alteration of signal intensity)’. Alteration of signal intensity in the parasagittal view was the single diagnostic sign with the highest sensitivity.