Prospective Evaluation of the Effect of Rotator Cuff Integrity on the Outcome of Open Rotator Cuff Repairs
- 1 October 2004
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in The American Journal of Sports Medicine
- Vol. 32 (7), 1716-1722
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0363546504265262
Abstract
Background: Open rotator cuff repairs have led to excellent clinical results; however, several studies have linked postoperative structural integrity to patient outcomes. The purpose of this study is to prospectively assess postoperative cuff integrity after open rotator cuff repair and assess its relationship to clinical outcome. Hypothesis: Preoperative rotator cuff tear size and postoperative rotator cuff integrity are important factors in overall clinical outcomes. Study Design: Prospective nonrandomized clinical outcomes study. Methods: Forty-seven consecutive patients undergoing repair of full-thickness rotator cuff tears by a single surgeon were enrolled in this prospective study. A standardized evaluation was performed preoperatively and postoperatively at annual intervals. All patients underwent postoperative magnetic resonance imaging at least 1 year after surgery. Statistical evaluation was performed using paired and unpaired 2-tailed t tests for comparison. Results: Thirty-two patients were available for evaluation. Overall, the patients experienced a significant (P < .05) improvement in their American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons survey (40-85) and Constant (53-80) scores. The overall retear rate was 31%. Although patients with large tears preoperatively and retears postoperatively had lower overall outcomes scores, this was not significant. Conclusion: These data support open rotator cuff repair as an effective technique that restores excellent shoulder function. The authors did not find postoperative cuff integrity to have a significant effect on outcomes when compared with those with an intact cuff. In fact, those with a retear still had a significant improvement in all clinical areas assessed, including strength.Keywords
This publication has 35 references indexed in Scilit:
- Arthroscopic repair of anterosuperior (supraspinatus/subscapularis) rotator cuff tearsArthroscopy: The Journal of Arthroscopic & Related Surgery, 2003
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Supraspinatus Muscle Atrophy After Cuff RepairPublished by Wolters Kluwer Health ,2002
- Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff RepairClinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, 2001
- Assessment of patient-based outcomesCurrent Orthopaedic Practice, 1998
- MR imaging of the shoulder after surgery.American Journal of Roentgenology, 1997
- MR imaging of the shoulder after rotator cuff repair.American Journal of Roentgenology, 1997
- Fatty Muscle Degeneration in Cuff RupturesClinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, 1994
- Arthroscopically assisted rotator cuff repair: Correlation of functional results with integrity of the cuffArthroscopy: The Journal of Arthroscopic & Related Surgery, 1994
- Rotator cuff tears: prospective comparison of MR imaging with arthrography, sonography, and surgeryAmerican Journal of Roentgenology, 1989
- A Clinical Method of Functional Assessment of the ShoulderClinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, 1987