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Manos Antonogiannakis
Head B’ Orthopaedics Dept
Center for shoulder arthroscopy
IASO GENERAL Hospital
Arthroscopic Treatment of Rotator Cuff
Tears – Philosophy and Technique
Philosophy of treatment:
restore the equilibrium between the functional demands of the patient
and the capacity of the rotator cuff
 Lower the functional demands of the patient.
 Increase the functional capacity of the remaining
intact cuff
 repair the cuff.
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Back to Basics
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Partial Thickness Tear
 Bursal side tears
 Articular side tears
 Intratendinus tears
Partial tear classification by Ellman
 Grade I <3mm deep
 Grade II 3-6mm deep
 Grade III>6mm deep (i.e. >50% thickness)
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Partial Tears Treatment
 By far the most common partial tears are Articular-
side, vascular or age related
Traditionally partial tears classifications
are based to 50%
BUT
“How healthy is the remaining,
intact tissue?”
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Partial Tears Treatment Options
1. Debride partial tear only
2. In-situ Repair
3. Convert to full thickness, Debride, Repair
Etiology drives the decision!!!
 Because most tears are degenerative, option 3 should be the
best for most cases
 Trauma or young athletes are candidates for in-situ repair
 If partial tear causes significant pain then debridement alone
[Yamaguch K, 2006 Nice Shoulder Course]
r
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Partial Tears In situ repair
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COMPLETE TEARS
 Small 1cm
 Medium 2-3cm
 Large 3-5 cm
 Massive >5cm
Cofield et all
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Type Description Preoperative MRI Findings Treatment Prognosis
1 Crescent Short and wide tear
End-to-
bone repair
Good to
excellent
2
Longitudinal
(L or U)
Long and narrow tear
Margin
convergence
Good to
excellent
3
Massive
contracted
Long and wide
> (2 x 2 cm)
Interval
slides or
partial
repair
Fair to good
4
Cuff tear
arthropathy
Cuff tear arthropathy Arthroplast
y
Fair to good.
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ANY TYPE OF RECONSTRUCTION
MUST AVOID TENSION OVER-LOAD
OF THE REPAIR
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Surgical Technique
Steps
1. GH Joint and Subacromial Joint Inspection
2. Bursal debridement
3. Acromioplasty (+/-)
4. Cuff mobilization
5. Strong mechanical repair without
tension(side to side, tendon to bone)
6. Biologic enhancement of the repair
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Patient Position
Lateral decubitus my preferred position
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Bleeding control
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Keys to control bleeding
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30º Scope Entrance from posterior portal but change portal
and viewing angle of scope ( 30 to 70) as needed
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Joint Side Inspection
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Bursal Side Inspection-Bursectomy
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Problem no 1: Bad quality retracted tendons
covered by a thickened bursa
 Find and recognize the tendons
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Remove the thickened bursa till to see the posterior edge of the cuff
ending to the greater tuberosity.
Everything that goes around the tuberosity to the deltoid is bursa
 Don’t suture the bursa
instead of the cuff. It
doesn’t work
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The posterior extent of the tear
 Differentiate thickened bursa
from the infraspinatus by
finding the posterior insertion
of the cuff to the tuberosity
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Solution
 Idendify recognizable landmarks
1. the undersurface of the acromion and
the underolateral corner
2.the acromioclavicular joint
3.the spine of the scapula
4.the lateral border of the tuberosity
And remove the bursa
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Identify:
1. the Anterolateral Corner of the
Acromion
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Identify:
2. the acromioclavicular joint
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Identify:
3. Lateral edge of the greater tuberosity
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Identify
4. the keel of the acromion
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Recognize the Tear Pattern
Tears must be repaired in the direction of
greatest mobility -> minimal strain
The muscle-tendon junction must be 2-3
mm medial of the edge of the cartilage
at the tuberosity after the repair
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Tear Patterns
 Crescent shaped
 U-Shaped
 L-shaped (or reverse L)
 Massive Contracted Immobile
tears
S.S. Burkhart
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Crescent
Shaped Tear
mobilized
easily for
tendon to
bone fixation
S.S Burkhart
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Crescent-Shaped Tears
Repair to bone with increased points of fixation
 Double row repair ?
 Single row triple loadead anchors
 Mc Stitch configuration
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Double Row Fixation
Restoration of the footprint
Medial Row - Matress
Sutures - 2 anchors
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Lateral Row - Simple
Sutures - 2 anchors
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Suture Bridge double row
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L-Shaped & U-Shaped Tears
 Side to side sutures from medial to
lateral
 Progressively converge the margin of the
tear lateral to the bone bed
 Closing 50% of a U-Shaped tear ->
reduces strain at converge margin by a
factor of 6
[S. S .Burkhart]
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 Large U-shaped cuff tear
extending to glenoid
 Margin convergence
 The free margin of the cuff is
repaired to bone with
suture anchors
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U-Shaped tear: Margin covergence with
side to side sutures
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Massive Contracted Immobile Tears
 No mobility from medial to lateral
or from anterior to posterior
 Represent 9.6% of massive tears
[S.Burkhart]
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Massive Contracted Tears
 Anterior Interval Slide
and/or
 Posterior Interval Slide
Single and double interval slide
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Anterior slide-
supraspinatus from
coracoid –coracohumeral
ligament
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Posterior slide
Infraspinatus - supraspinatus
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Before
After
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Biologic enhancement
of healing
•Acromioplasty
•Tuberoplasty
•PRGF injection in the subacromial space
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Acromioplasty
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Tuberoplasty
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Arthroscopic repair yields
 90-95% excellent in small and medium size tears at 4 to
10 years F.Up.
• Burkhart SS, Danaceau SM, Pearce CM Jr. Arthroscopic rotator cuff repair: Analysis of results by tear size and by repair
technique—Margin convergence versus direct tendon to bone repair. Arthroscopy 2001;17:905-912.
• Wolf EM, Pennington WT, Agrawal V. Arthroscopic rotator cuff repair: 4- to 10-year results. Arthroscopy 2004;20:5-12.
• Luis G. Marrero, M.D., Kyle R. Nelman, M.D., and Wesley M. Nottage, M.D., Long-Term Follow-Up of Arthroscopic Rotator
Cuff Repair. Arthroscopy: The Journal of Arthroscopic and Related Surgery, Vol xx, No x (Month), 2011: pp xxx
 Good to excellent results in massive tears with less than
75% fatty infiltration of the infraspinatus, even at 10 years
F.Up
• Burkhart SS, Barth JR, Richards DP, Zlatkin MB, Larsen M., Arthroscopic repair of massive rotator cuff rears with
stage 3 and 4 fatty degeneration. Arthroscopy 2007;23:347-354.
• Jones CK, Savoie FH III. Arthroscopic repair of large and massive rotator cuff tears. Arthroscopy 2003;19:564-
571.
• Dodson CC, Kitay A, Verma NN, et al. The long-term outcome of recurrent defects after rotator cuff repair. Am J
Sports Med 2010;38:35-39.
• Luis G. Marrero, M.D., Kyle R. Nelman, M.D., and Wesley M. Nottage, M.D., Long-Term Follow-Up of Arthroscopic
Rotator Cuff Repair. Arthroscopy: The Journal of Arthroscopic and Related Surgery, Vol xx, No x (Month), 2011:
pp xxx
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Using the above techniques
Burkhart reported less than
3% irreparable cuff tears
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Complete loss of active external rotation
(external rotation lag ) is a bad
prognostic factor
Superior migration of the humeral head
in contact with the acromion – repair
attempt is going to be a failure
Rotator Cuff Arthropathy
What are the limits?
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Conclusions
 Acute Crescent Tear
Standard Techniques for tendon to bone fixation
 U- or L- shaped Tears
 Side to side margin convergence
 Partially mobile tears
 Anterior / Posterior Slide
 Medialized Repair
 Incomplete repair
 Irreparable Tears
 debridement
 Tendon transfers
 Reverse – Extended head arthroplasty
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Thank you for your attention
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Single and double interval slide
Anterior slide through release in the
rotator interval (supraspinatus–
coracobrachialis)
Posterior slide through release of the
interval supraspinatus-infraspinatus
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Stay sutures to the cuff
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Release of MMP and GF after
acromioplasty
 Platelet-derived growth factor-AB (PDGF-AB), basic
fibroblast growth factor basic (bFGF) and transforming
growth factor beta 1 (TGF-b1) are released after
acromioplasty in the subacromial space.
 Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc (2009) 17:98–101 Release of
growth factors after arthroscopic acromioplasty . Pietro Randelli Ζ
Fabrizio Margheritini Ζ Paolo Cabitza Ζ Giada Dogliotti Ζ Massimiliano M.
Corsi
 MMP-2 does not increase but MMP-9 increases after
acromioplasty and their mesurment can be a useful tool to
be monitored in parallel with growth factors level and
other bone turnover markers in order to evaluate the bone
remodelling and tissue healing.
 E. Galliera , P. Randelli, G. Dogliotti, E. Dozio, A. Colombini, G. Lombardi, P.
Cabitza, M. Corsi. Matrix metalloproteases MMP-2 and MMP-9: Are they
early biomarkers of bone remodelling and healing after arthroscopic
acromioplasty? Injury, Int. J. Care Injured 41 (2010) 1204–1207
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Conclusions
 Rot Cuff is extremely significant for the normal function of the
shoulder
 Rot Cuff tears can be asymptomatic
 Symptoms Produced by a tear depend on:
 Size
 Location
 Functional demands of the patient

Rc repair philosophy and technique microhand 2014