Sublabral foramen

Last revised by Lam Van Le on 16 Nov 2024

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Gaillard F, Le L, Feger J, et al. Sublabral foramen. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 17 Mar 2025) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-2123

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-2123

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/2123?embed_domain=external.radpair.com%27%5B0%5D%27%5B0%5Dfavicon.icofavicon.icofavicon.ico

rID:

2123

Article created:

2 May 2008, Frank Gaillard ◉ ◈

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Frank Gaillard had no recorded disclosures.

View Frank Gaillard's current disclosures

Last revised:

16 Nov 2024, Lam Van Le

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Lam Van Le had no financial relationships to ineligible companies to disclose.

View Lam Van Le's current disclosures

Revisions:

10 times, by 8 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Systems:

Musculoskeletal

Sections:

Anatomy

Tags:

cases, shoulder, variant

Synonyms:

Sub-labral foramen
Sublabral hole

A sublabral foramen is simply a focal detachment of the anterosuperior labrum from the underlying glenoid and constitutes a normal labral variant of no clinical significance ^1-4.

On imaging, it might be confused with a SLAP lesion or an anterior labral tear ¹.

Sublabral foramina are fairly frequent findings on MRI and might be found in up to 10-20% of normal patients ^1,5,6. It is different from the superior sublabral sulcus or recess which can be found more superiorly underneath the long head biceps tendon origin ⁴. It might be also confused with a type II SLAP lesion or an anterior labral tear ³. Unlike those two the sublabral foramen is characterised by smoother contours, lacks significant displacement (>2 mm) and does not extend posteriorly past the insertion of the long head of the biceps tendon ³.