Abstract:[Objective] To evaluate the value of MRI in diagnosis of supraspinatus tendon tear by comparing preoperative MRI measurements with intraoperative findings. [Methods] A retrospective study was done on 41 patients who had total supraspinatus tendon tear treated surgically from January 2017 to December 2023. Based on the intraoperative tear length, the patients were divided into the severe group with tear length ≥3 cm, and mild to moderate group with tear length <3 cm. The preoperative MRI and intraoperative findings were compared between the two groups. ROC analysis was performed for MRI predicating severity of tendon tear using the parameters statistically significant between the two groups. [Results] According to the extent of rotator cuff tear found during operation, 14 patients fall into the severe group, while the remaining 27 paitents were in the mild to moderate group. The severe group proved significantly greater than the mild to moderate group in terms of tear length intraoperatively measured [(40.0±7.8) mm vs (17.9±4.2) mm, P 0.001], as well as preoperative MRI measurments, including coronal length (CL) of tendon tear [(13.6±5) mm vs (6,6.2±3.1) mm, P 0.001], horizontal length (HL) of tendon tear [(16.1± 5.5) mm vs (9.0±2.3) mm, P 0.001], combined length (CoL) of tendon tear [(21.8±5.3) mm vs (11.1±3.1) mm, P 0.001], and the subacromial thickness of fluid accumulation (STFA) [(4.1±2.1) mm vs (2.7±1.7) mm, P 0.033]. However, there were no significant difference in the incidence of anteromedial glenohumeral effusion, acromiohumeral interval distance (AHID), and coracohumeral distance (CHD) between the two groups (P>0.05). As results of ROC analysis, the area under curve (AUC) of CoL, CL, HL and STFA measured by preoperative MRI in predicting intraoperative tear extent was 0.950, 0.878, 0.865 and 0.694, respectively. [Conclusion] Combining two or more MRI measurements can accurately predict the severity of supraspinatus tendon tears, and the diagnostic efficacy of the combined length measured in preoperative MRI is the highest