ABSTRACT
Objective To compare the outcomes of arthroscopic single-row and suture-bridge repair of medium-sized rotator cuff tears through clinical and MRI assessment.Methods Forty-five patients with medium-sized rotator cuff tears who underwent arthroscopic repair using single-row (SR,n=29) or suture-bridge (SB,n=26) technique between July 2014 to June 2015 in our hospital,were retrospectively enrolled in this study.All surgeries were performed by the same senior doctor.The functional outcomes were assessed using the rating scale of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA),American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons shoulder index (ASES),Fudan University Shoulder Score (FUSS),visual analog pain scale score (VAS),and range of motion (ROM) before the operation and at the last follow-up.MRI examination was performed at the final follow-up.Results Finally 50 patients were followed up successfully,24 in SB group and 26 in SR group.There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of age,sex,follow-up duration,and the affected side.Before the operation,no significant differences were observed between the 2 groups in all the measurements.After more than 1-year follow-up,significant improvement was found in all measurements for both groups,but without significant differences between them.MRI examination showed no re-tears in either group.According to the Sugaya's classification,there were more type Ⅰ patients in SB group than SR group (83.3％ vs 61.5％),but the difference was not significant.Conclusion Arthroscopic suture-bridge repairing of medium-sized rotator cuff tears results in safe and good early clinical outcomes.However,compared with the single-row technique,there was no significant advantage.Although the MRI examination showed a better result of rotator cuff healing in the early stage,its long-term outcomes need further studying.
ABSTRACT
Arthroscopic rotator cuff repairs are preformed due to growing knowledge of rotator cuff tears among surgeons as well as patients.However,it is unavoidable and may sometimes very common that some patients develop structural failures or retears after surgical repairs because of unique blood supply and healing procedure of the rotator cuff,on which there is still much debate focusing on problems that one needs to deal with in clinical practice.Retears often occur,if without new trauma,during early postoperative period,or more specifically within the first 6 months after repair and are more frequently observed in those with old ages,diabetes or osteoporosis.In addition,risk factors of retears consist of longer preoperative duration of symptoms,larger primitive tear sizes,higher grades of fatty infiltration of muscles on preoperative imaging examinations,excessive tension within reconstructed structures,deteriorated quality of rotator cuff tissues and special shapes of the acromion,etc.Diagnosis is recently based on results of postoperative magnetic resonance imaging or echogram examination.MR/CT arthrography is also used.Each instrument has its advantages and limitations.However,the lack of a golden standard when establishing a diagnosis of rotator cuff retears makes integrating evaluations and comparisons of different methods a difficult question.It has been reported by many that the onset of retear leads to obvious shoulder pain or weakness,whereas more than a few studies demonstrated that very limited influences of retears in spite of generally unaffected shoulder functions,like decreased muscle strength on certain motions.The disagreement is possibly caused by specific methods of diagnosis,function instruments and time point of assessments used by different researchers as studies have displayed that feelings of patients after surgery and results attained by objective examinations are not always parallel.Moreover,some long-time follow-ups studies indicated that the impact posted by retears on shoulder functions evolves over a period of time.Owing to the varied opinions on actual symptoms and final functional outcomes caused by structural failure,the mainstay of treatment for rotator cuff tears are still conservative protocols,including observation and symptoms relief instead of second surgery.Second surgery could be an effective choice for certain patients,especially for those who have apparent symptoms.