These authors assessed the 29 month Constant score outcomes for 60 patients aged older than 75 years having attempted arthroscopic rotator cuff repairs in comparison to a group of 60 younger patients, matched for sex, tear size, and American Society of Anesthesiology Functional Classification grade were included.
Tear sizes were 25 massive, 20 large, 12 medium, and 3 small.
Postoperatively, all patients were placed into a mild abduction and neutral rotation sling for 6 weeks with therapist-supervised rehabilitation afterwards.
Comment: As the authors point out, massive tears are reported to have healing failure rates as high as 91% and tendon nonhealing does not reflect functional failure.
The improvement in the Constant score, pain, patient satisfaction, and complication rates were not different for the two groups.
The authors concluded that arthroscopic rotator cuff repair should be considered as a valuable treatment irrespective of age. The authors did not assess the cuff integrity (retear or nonhealing) rate.
Comment: As the authors point out, massive tears are reported to have healing failure rates as high as 91% and tendon nonhealing does not reflect functional failure.
So, once again, we're left with the unanswered question "does integrity of the repair matter?" If it doesn't then what is it about the failed repair attempt that leads to functional improvement after failed rotator cuff repairs?
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Use the "Search" box to the right to find other topics of interest to you.
How you can support progress in shoulder surgery
You may be interested in some of our most visited web pages arthritis, total shoulder, ream and run, reverse total shoulder, CTA arthroplasty, and rotator cuff surgery as well as the 'ream and run essentials'
