Healing of partial thickness tears?

We read the recent study by Rha et al. ¹ with great interest and the evidence certainly appears to show that platelet-rich plasma is superior to dry needling in the short-term treatment of rotator cuff tendinopathy. However, we do feel it somewhat unlikely that ‘two patients with partial thickness tears (one articular tear and one bursal surface tear) of the supraspinatus improved to tendinopathy’. There are significant problems with the accuracy of ultrasound in diagnosing partial thickness tears ² and given the physiatrist was also unblinded, we feel it is far more likely that the partial thickness tears were missed on follow-up scan rather than ‘healed’. It would also be interesting to know if the physiatrist has ever investigated his or her scanning sensitivity/specificity using the gold standard of findings at shoulder arthroscopy.