The results of arthroscopic repair in partial rotator cuff tears

Objectives: We evaluated patients who underwent arthro- scopic repair for partial rotator cuff tears less than 50% of tendon thickness with respect to the course of tears and functional results. Methods: Nineteen patients (10 women, 9 men; mean age 49 years; range 40 to 70 years) who did not benefit from conservative treatment for partial rotator cuff tears were treated with arthroscopic debridement with or with¬out subacromial decompression. Twelve patients had a history of trauma before the appearance of complaints which had a mean duration of 12 months (range 7 to 24 months) before arthroscopic repair. Partial tears were on the articular side in 12 patients, and on the bursal side in seven patients. The patients were assessed with preopera- tive and postoperative physical examination, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and UCLA scores. Results: The mean preoperative and postoperative UCLA scores were 16.8 (range 10 to 20) and 29.0 (range 9 to 35), respectively (p<0.05). The results were excellent or good in 14 patients (73.7%), fair in two patients (10.5%), and poor in three patients (15.8). One patient developed shoulder stiff¬ness which improved following rehabilitation. Postoperative MRI showed persistence of partial tears in 13 patients, pro¬gression in five patients, and development of total rupture in one patient. Complaints of pain increased in severity in patients in whom partial tears manifested a progressive course. One patient with total rupture underwent mini-open rotator cuff repair in the postoperative sixth month. Conclusion: Although clinical symptoms show improve¬ment in most of the patients following arthroscopic treat¬ment, partial rotator cuff tears do not heal completely in a considerable number of cases, and may progress to full- thickness tears in some.