Early Rotator Cuff Shoulder Repairs Lead to Promising Results #Health #rotatorcuff #Seattle

Rotator cuff tears are a very common condition, causing pain and reduced movement of the shoulder. While these injuries may not demonstrate symptoms at first, gradual degeneration may cause shoulder pain and other symptoms to develop within a few years

 "Repairs of isolated supraspinatus tears maintained considerable improvement in clinical and radiographic outcomes at 10 years," according to the report by a French orthopedic surgery research group. The lead author was Philippe Collin, MD, of CHP Saint Gregoire Vivalto Sante. The study provides new evidence that early surgery for supraspinatus tears can improve long-term outcomes by preventing later rotator cuff muscle degeneration.

 The researchers, in a French multi-site clinical setting, identified 511 patients at 15 hospitals who underwent complete rotator cuff tear surgery.  These same patients were had a clinical longitudinal research follow-up ten years later, where 288 patients returned for follow-up evaluation, including MRI scans in 210 patients.

 The results of these patients saw substantial improvement of quality of life as well as general range of motion and use of the affected shoulder. The average Constant score -- a standard assessment accounting for shoulder motion, strength, daily activities, and pain -- improved from about 52 (out of a possible 100) before surgery to 78 at ten years' follow-up. The MRI scans showed similar results with a marked improvement in the quality of the tendon strength.

 Journal Reference

 Philippe Collin, Jean-François Kempf, Daniel Mole[Combining Acute Accent], Nicolas Meyer, Charles Agout, Mo Saffarini, Arnaud Godene [Combining Grave Accent] che. Ten-Year Multicenter Clinical and MRI Evaluation of Isolated Supraspinatus Repairs. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, 2017; 99 (16): 1355 DOI: 10.2106/JBJS.16.01267