Sonographic presentation of rice bodies in subacromial-subdeltoid chronic bursitis

BACKGROUND: subacromial-subdeltoid chronic bursitis is one of the main causes of shoulder pain syndrome. There are various causes of shoulder pain syndrome including chronic bursitis. The sonographic appearances of chronic bursitis vary from patient to patient, depending upon the underlying cause. However, rice bodies are the rare sonographic presentation among them. Rice bodies can be associated with atypical mycobacterial tenosynovitis, bursitis, mycobacterium tuberculosis and infections, but very rarely occur in the chronic subacromial-subdeltoid bursitis. Its unique sonographic presentation makes it easy to be diagnosed confidently, but it is difficult to be recognized, interpret and distinguish from other pathologies due to its rare occurrence. It is therefore intended to present this rare and interesting sonographic presentation of chronic subacromial-subdeltoid bursitis as a case report. CASE-PRESENTATION: A 36-year-old male suffering from swelling and pain on his left shoulder for 6 months came to the clinic with Grade-3 impingement syndrome. Free-floating echogenic rice bodies were identified in the subacromial-subdeltoid bursa during ultrasound examination, which was also confirmed with Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and serological tests of the specimen after surgery. CONCLUSION: The unique sonographic presentation of rice bodies in the chronic subacromial-subdeltoid bursitis makes it easy to be diagnosed confidently, but it is difficult to be recognized, due to its rare occurrence. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13089-019-0130-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.