REVIEW ARTICLE
The Impact of Re-tear on the Clinical Outcome after Rotator Cuff Repair Using Open or Arthroscopic Techniques – A Systematic Review
Ilias Galanopoulos*, 1, Aslanidis Ilias1, Konstantinos Karliaftis1, Dimitrios Papadopoulos2, Neil Ashwood3
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2017Volume: 11
Issue: Suppl-1, M4
First Page: 95
Last Page: 107
Publisher ID: TOORTHJ-11-95
DOI: 10.2174/1874325001711010095
Article History:
Received Date: 11/01/2016Revision Received Date: 19/04/2016
Acceptance Date: 20/04/2016
Electronic publication date: 28/02/2017
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:
It is generally accepted that rotator cuff repair gives satisfactory results in the long term, although most studies have so far shown a fairly high rate of structural failure or re-tear. The purpose of this review study is to assess whether failure of the repaired cuff to heal could negatively affect the functional outcome.
Methods:
This article includes an extensive Internet PubMed based research in the current English-language literature including level I to level V studies as well as systematic reviews.
Results:
According to this extended study research, the results are mixed; certain reports show that patients with a healed rotator cuff repair have improved function and strength compared to those with structural failure, whereas other studies support the generally perceived concept that tendon re-tear does not lead to inferior clinical outcome.
Conclusion:
Further high-level prospective studies with larger numbers of patients and longer follow up are needed to overcome the current debate over function between healed and failed rotator cuff repairs.