RESEARCH ARTICLE
Biceps Tenotomy Does not Affect the Functional Outcomes of Patients Treated with Spacer Implantation Due to Massive Irreparable Rotator Cuff Tears
Eran Maman1, *, Ori Safran2, Shaul Beyth2, Gavriel Mozes3, Assaf Dekel3, Bernstein Michael4, Ofir Chechik1, Eliyahu Adar5
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2017Volume: 11
First Page: 1577
Last Page: 1584
Publisher ID: TOORTHJ-11-1577
DOI: 10.2174/1874325001711011577
Article History:
Received Date: 29/10/2017Revision Received Date: 28/11/2017
Acceptance Date: 13/12/2017
Electronic publication date: 29/12/2017
Collection year: 2017
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
Lesions of the long head of the biceps (LHB) tendon are frequently associated with massive rotator cuff tears (RCT) and may be responsible for shoulder pain and disability.
Objective:
This study aimed to evaluate functional outcomes of arthroscopic biodegradable spacer implantation with or without biceps tenotomy as treatment for persistent shoulder dysfunction and pain due to a massive irreparable RCT.
Methods:
A total of 48 patients were implanted with the subacromial spacer using arthroscopic approach with or without biceps tenotomy. All patients were assessed for up to 12 months post-implantation and 18 patients were assessed for at least 24 months (and a maximum of 40 months). Improvement in shoulder function was assessed using Constant score.
Results:
Subacromial spacer implantation was performed arthroscopically in 48 patients. The mean total Constant score increased from 36 at baseline to 67 points at 12 months post implantation. Patients who underwent LHB tenotomy in addition to the subacromial spacer presented similar improvement of their shoulder function and score compared to the group that was treated with the spacer alone.
Conclusion:
Current study demonstrates that spacer implantation in this patient population provides significant improvement in function and decreases the pain. Additional LHB tenotomy did not influence the postoperative results during the follow-up.
