Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Orthop. Aug 18, 2017; 8(8): 631-637
Published online Aug 18, 2017. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v8.i8.631
Functional outcomes of traumatic and non-traumatic rotator cuff tears after arthroscopic repair
José Jorge Kitagaki Abechain, Glaydson Gomes Godinho, Fabio Teruo Matsunaga, Nicola Archetti Netto, Julia Pozzetti Daou, Marcel Jun Sugawara Tamaoki
José Jorge Kitagaki Abechain, Fabio Teruo Matsunaga, Nicola Archetti Netto, Julia Pozzetti Daou, Marcel Jun Sugawara Tamaoki, Shoulder and Elbow Surgery Sector of the Hand and Upper Limb Surgery Course, Orthopedics and Traumatology Department, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP 04038-030, Brazil
Glaydson Gomes Godinho, Shoulder Surgery Sector of Hospital Ortopédico de Belo Horizonte, Belo Horizonte, MG 30210-300, Brazil
Author contributions: Godinho GG, Netto NA and Matsunaga FT designed and performed the research and contributed to data acquisition; Abechain JJK, Daou JP and Tamaoki MJS analyzed the data and wrote the article; Abechain JJK, Matsunaga FT and Tamaoki MJS contributed to editing, reviewing and final approval of article.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa do Hospital Ortopédico de Belo Horizonte Institutional Review Board.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict-of-interest.
Data sharing statement: Technical appendix, statistical code, and dataset available from the corresponding author at ombroecotoveloepm@gmail.com.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: José Jorge Kitagaki Abechain, MD, Shoulder and Elbow Surgery Sector of the Hand and Upper Limb Surgery Course, Orthopedics and Traumatology Department, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP 04038-030, Brazil. tamaoki@unifesp.br
Telephone: +55-11-55797059 Fax: +55-11-55797059
Received: December 21, 2016
Peer-review started: December 25, 2016
First decision: January 14, 2017
Revised: May 2, 2017
Accepted: May 8, 2017
Article in press: May 10, 2017
Published online: August 18, 2017
Processing time: 232 Days and 14.6 Hours
Abstract
AIM

To compare the functional outcomes of traumatic and non-traumatic rotator cuff tears after arthroscopic repair.

METHODS

Eighty-seven patients with rotator cuff tears following arthroscopic treatment were divided into traumatic and non-traumatic tear groups. Postoperative muscle strength and outcomes using the modified University of California, Los Angeles score were evaluated. Sex, age, affected limb and dominant limb were correlated between groups. Muscle strength of the repaired and unaffected shoulders was compared. Rotator cuff injury size was measured.

RESULTS

Of the 87 patients who underwent rotator cuff repairs, 35 had traumatic tears and 52 had non-traumatic tears. In patients with non-traumatic tears, the average age was 59 years, 74.5% were female, 96.1% were right-hand dominant and 92.3% had their dominant shoulder affected. Patients with traumatic tears were 59.5 years old on average, 51.4% were female, 91.4% were right-hand dominant and 88.5% had their dominant shoulder affected. No difference existed in the mean modified University of California, Los Angeles score between patients with traumatic tears (33.7) compared with those with non-traumatic tears (32.8). No strength differences were observed between groups: The strength difference between the non-affected and affected sides was 1.21 kg in the non-traumatic group and 1.39 kg in the traumatic group (P = 0.576), while the strength ratio between the non-affected/affected sides was 0.805 in the non-traumatic group and 0.729 in the traumatic group (P = 0.224).

CONCLUSION

The functional results of traumatic rotator cuff repairs are similar to non-traumatic tears. Both outcomes are satisfactory.

Keywords: Rotator cuff; Shoulder pain; Arthroscopy; Tendon injuries; Orthopedics

Core tip: The causes of rotator cuff tears are multifactorial. It is believed that degeneration is essential, and most tears are slow and progressive. In contrast, acute tears can occur after trauma. Acute tears generally have better functional and pain outcomes compared with chronic injuries. The aim of this study is to compare shoulder functional outcomes after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair of traumatic and non-traumatic tears. Outcomes will be evaluated using the modified University of California, Los Angeles score and muscle strength measurements.