Clinical Result of Arthroscopic Partial Repairs in Massive Rotator Cuff Tears

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: With the better understanding of cuff function, partial repair or "force couple repair" for treating massive irreparable rotator cuff tear has gained some popularity. However, there were few reports on the results of partial repair. The purpose of this study was to report the clinical outcome of massive irreparable rotator cuff tears who received arthroscopic force-couple repair or partial repair. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From June 2005 to Feb 2008, arthroscopic partial repairs were performed for 16 irreparable rotator cuff tears among the 101 large to massive rotator cuff tears that were operated on. Clinical and radiographic evaluation were done at the final follow-up RESULTS: There were 7 men and 9 women with a mean age of 66.6 years. The mean follow-up period was 27.3 month (range 15-46). The pain VAS improved from 4.4 (+/-2.50) to 2.1 (+/-2.26) and the functional VAS improved from 46.9 (+/-16.64) to 70.0 (+/-22.80). The ASES score improved from 39.0 (+/-10.80) to 80.3 (+/-16.78) and the KSS score was 81.9 (+/-16.74) at the final follow-up. The acromio-humeral distance was 6.6 cm (+/-1.74) preoperatively and 6.2 cm (+/-1.69) postoperatively without significant change (p=0.3874). The degenerative changes had no statistically progressed (p=0.2663). CONCLUSION: Partial repair for massive rotator cuff injury patients showed improvement in the clinical score without progression of arthritic change at a mean of 2.3 years follow-up.