1. Sixty-three cases of subdeltoid bursitis were treated by the simple irrigation method.
2. The results, evaluated on the basis of relief of the acute pain and on getting the patients back to work earlier than with any other form of treatment, seem to warrant its use.
3. The average period of economic disability following the irrigation is 4.8 days in the acute cases. There have been very few recurrences of symptoms in the acute cases (some of the cases have been followed for over thirteen months).
4. Irrigation is not desirable in cases in which the roentgenograms show old calcification with a hard, bonelike appearance, probably in the supraspinatus tendon. To show calcium, roentgenograms should be taken in as much internal and external rotation as possible.
5. Irrigation did no harm in any of our cases; it may, therefore, be tried in any case, but it is recommended primarily for the acute cases with localized signs and symptoms.