This is a plain-English translation of the academic paper above, prepared for patients, referring clinicians, and other non-specialist readers. It preserves the structure of the original paper while removing technical jargon. For the full clinical paper, follow the PubMed or DOI links.
What is this paper
A cadaveric study assessing how often a needle aimed at the sternoclavicular joint — the small joint at the top of the breastbone where the inner end of the collarbone meets the chest — actually ends up inside the joint when the injection is done by feel alone, without ultrasound or x-ray guidance.
Why does it matter
The sternoclavicular joint is small, deep, and angled obliquely. Diagnostic and therapeutic injections into it are routinely performed for shoulder-girdle pain, but the chance of placing the needle peri-articularly — that is, just outside the joint — is real. A peri-articular injection means the patient gets neither the diagnostic information nor the therapeutic effect intended. The paper appears as a Letter in Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology (2009;38(5):396-8) and a structured abstract is not indexed on PubMed; the work sits within Professor Heidari’s wider Graz-based programme of cadaveric studies on the accuracy of joint injection.
Source: Weinberg AM, Pichler W, Grechenig S, Tesch NP, Heidari N, Grechenig W. Frequency of successful intra-articular puncture of the sternoclavicular joint: A cadaver study. Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology 2009;38(5):396-8. doi:10.1080/03009740902953856
Read original on PubMed → ← Back to research library