If a liquid occurs in the bursa, then the patient has quite similar clinical symptoms without any dependence on their primary cause. At the patient there is a general symptomatology of an inflammatory affection of the structures with a synovial epithelium (glenohumeral, acromioclavicular joint and sheath of the long head of the biceps):
| pains at rest, mainly at night, ingravescent by the movement |
| an impossibility to lie on the affected side |
| a morning stiffness |
| a restriction of motility |
| rarely also an oedema of the shoulder |
The ultrasound examination is a masterful method for an interception of the liquid in the bursa. But a final determination of the diagnosis is possible after the analysis of the artrocentesis of the bursa.
Rheumatoid affections evoke exudative inflammations at bursae. A filling of the
bursa can also occur secondarily after a penetration of the synovial liquid
through the capsule of the glenohumeral articulation after its weakness by
rheumatoid process, and a permanent expansion of the synovial liquid. In
this case we cannot speak about real bursitis, rather about parabursitis, i.e. a
presence of the liquid between particular structures without an exact anatomical
localization.