[Effects of different repair methods in treatment of supraspinatus tendon tear: experiment with rabbits].
OBJECTIVE
To compare the effects of different repair methods in treatment of supraspinatus tendon tear.


METHODS
Forty-five New Zealand rabbits aged 4 approximately 6 months underwent cutting off of the left supraspinatus tendon for the width of 8 mm, and then were randomly divided into 3 equal groups: Group A, undergoing suture anchor simple suture; Group B, undergoing suture anchor mattress suture; and Group C, undergoing transosseous mattress suture. Eight weeks after the operation the rabbits were killed. The shoulder girdles of 12 rabbits randomly selected from each group were used for mechanical test to determine the intensity strength of the supraspinatus tendon, and the left shoulder girdler of the other rabbits underwent decalcification, HE staining, and histological study to observe the healing of the end point of the supraspinatus tendon.


RESULTS
Two rabbits. One in Group A and on in Group B underwent infection. The healing rate was 93.33% for both Groups A and B, and was 100% for Group C, however without significant differences among them (all>0.05). The mean maximum tension loads of the supraspinatus tendon of Groups A, B, and C were 82.39+/-20.70 N, 81.80+/-20.31 N, and 88.58+/-17.24 N respectively, however without significant differences among them (F=0.44, >0.05). Histological examination showed that at the end point the supraspinatus tendons of Groups A and B connected to the lamellar bone and that three-zone structure (tendon, cartilage, and bone) could be found at the end point of the supraspinatus tendon in Group C, but compared with the normal end point, the number of cartilage cells decreased.


CONCLUSIONS
The effects of the 3 suture methods are not significantly different from each other for the repair of supraspinatus tendon in respect to healing rate and healing strength, but compared with the suture anchor simple suture method and suture anchor mattress suture method, the transosseous mattress suture method shows greater post-healing strength of tension and the tendon healing situation is closer to the normal tendon structure.
Wang
Qiang
Q
Department of Orthopaedics, Beijing Hospital, Beijing 100730, China.
Sun
Chang-tai
CT
Ji
Quan
Q
Wu
Gang
G
Zhang
Yao-nan
YN
D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000601:surgery*; D011817:Rabbits; D011897:Random Allocation; D012785:Shoulder Joint; D013536:Suture Techniques; D013708:Tendon Injuries / Q000601:surgery*; D014945:Wound Healing