抄録
The objective of this study was to investigate the clinical outcome of conservative treatment for partial-thickness rotator cuff tears (PTRCTs) and to compare them with that for full-thickness rotator cuff tears (FTRCTs), and to analyze factors that influence the clinical outcome. We selected 25 patients who were diagnosed as having PTRCTs and were treated conservatively. There were 14 males and 11 females with an average age of 55.8 years old. All patients were evaluated using JOA score and were classified into 2 groups and 4 sub-groups; Satisfactory group (excellent; ≥90 points, good; 80 to 89 points) with over 80 points and Unsatisfactory group (fair; 70 to 79 points, poor; ≤69 points) with below 79 points. Age, sex, duration of symptoms before the 1st consultation, traumatic history, night pain, and dominant versus non-dominant side were compared among the groups. The mean JOA score improved from 69.2 points at the initial consultation to 83.7 points at the final follow-up. Eventually, there were 7 excellent (28%), 13 good (52%), 1 fair (4%), and 4 poor results (16%). 20 patients (80%) were assessed as excellent or good. In the several factors, there was no statistical difference among the groups. The patients with PTRCTs had poor clinical results compared with the patients with FTRCTs. Despite the conservative treatment, clinical symptoms deteriorated in the 2 patients with PTRCTs. Our clinical results of conservative treatments for the patients with PTRCTs were almost satisfactory. But our results might suggest that conservative treatment was not so effective for PTRCTs compared with FTRCTs.
