Robert Z Tashjian, MD, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Utah, 590 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, United States. robert.tashijan@hsc.utah.edu
Research Domain of This Article
Orthopedics
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
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/
World J Orthop. Mar 18, 2015; 6(2): 211-220 Published online Mar 18, 2015. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v6.i2.211
Factors affecting healing after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair
Amir M Abtahi, Erin K Granger, Robert Z Tashjian
Amir M Abtahi, Erin K Granger, Robert Z Tashjian, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, United States
Author contributions: Abtahi AM, Granger EK and Tashjian RZ solely contributed to the concept, writing and editing of this paper.
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: Robert Z Tashjian, MD, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Utah, 590 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, United States. robert.tashijan@hsc.utah.edu
Telephone: +1-801-5875457 Fax: +1-801-5875411
Received: July 4, 2014 Peer-review started: July 4, 2014 First decision: July 18, 2014 Revised: September 29, 2014 Accepted: October 1, 2014 Article in press: October 10, 2014 Published online: March 18, 2015 Processing time: 258 Days and 16.1 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: Many factors, both patient and surgeon related, can influence healing after repair. Older age, larger tear size, worse muscle quality, greater muscle-tendon unit retraction, smoking, osteoporosis, diabetes and hypercholesterolemia have all shown to negatively influence tendon healing after rotator cuff repair. Smoking cessation and blood glucose and cholesterol control are methods to potentially improve healing rates. Slower, less aggressive rehabilitation programs may improve healing rates with no negative effect on final range of motion and are therefore recommended after arthroscopic repair of most full thickness tears. Finally, no definitive evidence supports the use of platelet rich plasma or mesenchymal stem cells regarding improvement of healing rates after rotator cuff repair. Routine use of these adjuvants is therefore not currently recommended.
