title: Prospective study of three surgical procedures for long head biceps tendinopathy associated with rotator cuff tears.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  simple tenotomy in the treatment of long head biceps (LHB) lesion offers good results, as well as tenotomy/tenodesis.
  
  
  METHODS
  we prospectively evaluated 252 patients, divided into 3 groups, treated with rotator cuff repair associated with LHB tenotomy or 2 different types of tenodesis in cases where there had been a partial lesion of the LHB or instability of the bicipital groove. We ascertained whether there was residual pain and the presence of the "Popeye sign" in the post-operative stage.
  
  
  RESULTS
  patients who underwent tenotomy alone achieved an improvement on the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Simple Shoulder Test (SST) and modified UCLA shoulder rating compared to patients who underwent LHB tenodesis. A positive Popeye sign is poorly perceived by patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  we considered the LHB tenotomy as treatment of choice for the rotator cuff surgical repair when there was an evident LHB lesion.
authors.affiliation: Orthopaedic Clinic, Padua University, Italy.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Biz
authors.forename: Giovanni Battista
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Vinanti
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rossato
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Arnaldi
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Aldegheri
keywords: long head biceps; rotator cuff; tenodesis; tenotomy