title: Repair of full-thickness rotator cuff tears is recommended regardless of tear size and age: a retrospective study of 218 patients.
abstract: Conservative therapy has been recommended for the treatment of a chronic cuff lesion with relatively good results. However, recent reports about operative treatment of cuff lesions have yielded more favorable results. Although the current literature seems to favor early treatment, there is an ongoing debate about the timing of the operation. During a 16-year period, 415 chronic full-thickness rotator cuff tears were operated on at our institution. The indication for operative treatment was persistent, severe or moderate pain at rest and impairment of shoulder function after initial conservative treatment. At follow-up, the symptoms were assessed by an interview, and all patients were clinically examined. Pain, function, range of active forward flexion, active abduction, strength (manual muscle testing), and patient satisfaction were recorded, and the results were evaluated by the University of California, Los Angeles shoulder rating scale. On the basis of our results, we recommend operative treatment of the rotator cuff for all cases in which the tear is full thickness, regardless of tear size, if patients have any symptoms, especially pain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, University Hospital of Turku, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Hannu E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Lähteenmäki
authors.forename: Ari
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hiltunen
authors.forename: Petri
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Virolainen
authors.forename: Olavi
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Nelimarkka
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001182:Arthroscopy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000503:physiopathology; D011336:Probability; D011379:Prognosis; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular / Q000502:physiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D017006:Rotator Cuff / Q000601:surgery*; D000070636:Rotator Cuff Injuries; D012785:Shoulder Joint / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D020069:Shoulder Pain / Q000503:physiopathology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016896:Treatment Outcome