A comparison of suture bridge and single row techniques in repair of full-thickness rotator cuff tears in a rabbit model / 中华创伤骨科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To compare suture bridge and single row techniques in repair of rotator cuff tears in a rabbit model.Methods Seventy-six mature male New Zealand white rabbits were used in this study.The 12-month old rabbits,weighing from 2.5 to 3.0 kg (average,2.8 kg),were made models of full-thickness rotator cuff tear by cutting off at the foot print the supraspinatus tendon.The models were randomly divided into 2 even groups (n =38 each).Their right shoulders were repaired by suture bridge and single row techniques respectively in the 2 groups,with their left shoulders untreated as controls.The rabbits were then sacrificed at the 2nd,4th and 8th weeks after surgery for histological comparisons of healing under microscopy.Biomechanical comparisons were made at the 8th week to analyze advantages and disadvantages of the two methods.Results At 2,4 and 8 weeks postoperatively,there were no significant differences between the anterior and middle 1/3 zones of bone-tendon junction regarding cartilage growth or collagen fiber morphology in the suture bridge group,while the cartilage growth and collagen fiber morphology in the middle 1/3 zone of bone-tendon junction were significantly more mature than in the anterior 1/3 zone in the single row group.At the 8th postoperative week,the load to failure in the suture bridge group (134.59 ± 17.69 N) was significantly higher than that in the single row group (72.23 ± 12.08 N) (P ＜ 0.05),but remained significantly lower than that in the control group (192.61 ± 9.42 N) (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion The suture bridge technique is a feasible and reliable method for repair of rotator cuff tear and has a better healing effect than the single row technique.