Clinical and MRI Outcomes of Arthroscopic Repairing of Medium-sized Rotator Cuff Tears Using Single-row and Suture-bridge Techniques / 中国运动医学杂志

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.