Elsevier

Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery

Volume 16, Issue 6, November–December 2007, Pages 759-765
Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery

Original article
Functional outcome of arthroscopic rotator cuff repairs: A correlation of anatomic and clinical results

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jse.2007.03.020Get rights and content

Even though several studies have revealed excellent clinical results with arthroscopic repair of rotator cuff tendons, poor healing of the repair and retearing of the tendon occur in many cases. Patterns of outcome correlating functional capacity and anatomic integrity of the repaired rotator cuff are not well defined. The goal of this prospective study was to determine the pattern of anatomic and functional outcomes among patients undergoing single-row arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. This study confirmed that single-row arthroscopic repair of small- and medium-sized supraspinatus tendon tears significantly improves rotator cuff integrity and functional outcomes. A completely healed tendon was observed in 60% of the cases. Age is a predictor of cuff integrity after the operation. Functional improvement was greater and significant in patients with complete healing at follow-up; however, a recurrent tear did not preclude positive functional results.

Section snippets

Study design

This study used data prospectively collected on all patients undergoing single-row arthroscopic rotator cuff tendon repair at The Cleveland Clinic between May 2000 and March 2003. During this time, 85 patients underwent single-row arthroscopic rotator cuff tendon repair. The indication for surgery was failure to respond to nonoperative management for at least 6 months. Patients were included if they had a torn rotator cuff isolated to the supraspinatus tendon determined by physical examination

Results

The results of this study are divided into anatomic and functional outcome. The anatomic results are defined by the postoperative ultrasound examination. The functional results are defined by the data collected from questions on the PENN evaluation, SF-36, and the Actual Physical Activity question. The no tear group consisted of 18 patients without any signs of tear during the ultrasound examination, and 12 patients with either a partial-thickness or full-thickness tear were considered to have

Discussion

The outcome of arthroscopic rotator cuff repair was evaluated on 4 different levels: anatomic (structural integrity of rotator cuff), shoulder-specific patient-assessed measures (PENN questionnaire), general health-related quality of life (SF-36 questionnaire), and patient-assessed level of physical activity. These methods of evaluation are interrelated, but they are different in their sensitivity to detect change from the preoperative to the postoperative period. The most sensitive functional

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