TY - JOUR
T1 - Partial repair of irreparable supraspinatus tendon tears
T2 - Clinical and radiographic evaluations at long-term follow-up
AU - Porcellini, Giuseppe
AU - Castagna, Alessandro
AU - Cesari, Eugenio
AU - Merolla, Giovanni
AU - Pellegrini, Andrea
AU - Paladini, Paolo
PY - 2011/10
Y1 - 2011/10
N2 - Background: Irreparable rotator cuff tears are a common source of pain and disability even in middle-aged patients. Although most rotator cuff tears can be completely repaired to bone, a significant proportion of these cannot be sutured by traditional methods. In these cases it is possible to perform a functional repair of the cuff to help restore the force couple of the cuff on the humeral head and to increase the acromion-humeral distance (AHD). This technique provides peripheral repair of the cuff tear without complete closure of the cuff defect. Our hypothesis was that arthroscopic partial suture of the cuff leads to pain relief and functional improvement for the patients while restoring the AHD. Materials and methods: All patients (67 cases) were arthroscopically treated with functional repair of the posterior cuff. The follow-up was at least 5 years. All the patients had clinical and radiographic evaluations and assessment with the Simple Shoulder Test and Constant score. Results: The mean Constant score increased from 44 points to a mean of 73 points, the mean Simple Shoulder Test score increased from 4.6 to 9.0, and the mean AHD increased from 6.1 mm to 9.1 mm. Discussion and conclusion: Functional repair of the infraspinatus, leaving the greater tuberosity uncovered, in patients with irreparable cuff tears gives good results in terms of patient satisfaction and in restoring the AHD even at long-term follow-up. Complications were rare and in line with the usual sequelae of a rotator cuff repair.
AB - Background: Irreparable rotator cuff tears are a common source of pain and disability even in middle-aged patients. Although most rotator cuff tears can be completely repaired to bone, a significant proportion of these cannot be sutured by traditional methods. In these cases it is possible to perform a functional repair of the cuff to help restore the force couple of the cuff on the humeral head and to increase the acromion-humeral distance (AHD). This technique provides peripheral repair of the cuff tear without complete closure of the cuff defect. Our hypothesis was that arthroscopic partial suture of the cuff leads to pain relief and functional improvement for the patients while restoring the AHD. Materials and methods: All patients (67 cases) were arthroscopically treated with functional repair of the posterior cuff. The follow-up was at least 5 years. All the patients had clinical and radiographic evaluations and assessment with the Simple Shoulder Test and Constant score. Results: The mean Constant score increased from 44 points to a mean of 73 points, the mean Simple Shoulder Test score increased from 4.6 to 9.0, and the mean AHD increased from 6.1 mm to 9.1 mm. Discussion and conclusion: Functional repair of the infraspinatus, leaving the greater tuberosity uncovered, in patients with irreparable cuff tears gives good results in terms of patient satisfaction and in restoring the AHD even at long-term follow-up. Complications were rare and in line with the usual sequelae of a rotator cuff repair.
KW - Arthroscopic surgery
KW - Case Series
KW - Level IV
KW - Partial rotator cuff repair
KW - Supraspinatus atrophy
KW - Treatment Study
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jse.2010.11.002
DO - 10.1016/j.jse.2010.11.002
M3 - Article
C2 - 21277807
AN - SCOPUS:80053053263
VL - 20
SP - 1170
EP - 1177
JO - Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery
JF - Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery
SN - 1058-2746
IS - 7
ER -