ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the efficacy of bone marrow fenestration technique used for ro-tator cuff repair at the foot-print zone of rotator cuff under arthroscopy. Methods A total of 30 patients with full-thickness rotator cuff tear ( from 3 cm to 5 cm) were enrolled for this retrospective study who had been treated at Department of Orthopaedics, The People's Hospital of North Jiangsu from January 2015 to December 2016. Of them, 15 were treated under arthroscopy with simple suture bridge technique ( SB group ) and the other 15 under arthroscopy with bone marrow fenestration and suture bridge techniques ( BMSB group ) . The 2 groups were compared in terms of visual analogue scale ( VAS ) , American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons ( ASES ) scale, Constant scores,range of motion of the affected shoulder and rate of retear after surgery. Results All the patients received follow-up for 11 to 14 months. Significant improvements were achieved in both groups in VAS scores at 3 months ( 1.9 ± 0.6 and 0.9 ± 0.6 ) , ASES scores ( 90.7 ± 3.6 and 92.3 ± 4.2 ) and Constant scores ( 88.9 ± 2.5 and 87.4 ± 3.4 ) at the last follow-up, compared with the preoperative values ( 4.7 ± 1.1 and 4.3 ± 1.5, 58.2 ± 7.2 and 55.6 ± 4.4, and 57.3 ± 6.7 and 55.9 ± 10.3, respectively) ( P ＜0.05), but there were no significant differences between the 2 groups in ASES scores, Constant scores or range of motion of the affected shoulder at the last follow-up ( P＞ 0.05). The VAS scores at 3 months for the BMSB group (0.9 ± 0.6) were significantly lower than that for the SB group (1.9 ± 0.6) ( P ＜0.05). There was no significant difference either between the 2 groups in the retear rate [ 20.0% ( 3/15 ) for SB group versus 26.7% ( 4/15 ) for BMSB group ] ( P ＞ 0.05 ) . Conclusion Application of bone marrow fenestration technique in addition to suture bridge technique can obviously relieve pain after rotator cuff repair, though it shows no advantage in functional recovery of the shoulder joint.