2011 Volume 35 Issue 3 Pages 817-819
This study was undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of this operative procedure by analyzing follow-up data for 10 or more years after surgery. Of the patients followed for 10 years or longer after mini open repair, 41 shoulders (follow-up rate, 85.4%) were enrolled in this study, excluding patients who died, developed paralysis of the cervical spinal cord, or required reoperation. The mean age at the time of surgery was 58.2 years. There were 23 males and 18 females. This study had 4 small tears, 22 moderate-sized tears, 12 large tears, and 3 massive tears. The mean postoperative follow-up period was 10.8 years. Clinical evaluations using JOA and UCLA scores, measurements of the range of motion (ROM) and muscular strength, and diagnostic imaging (MRI and plain X-ray) were carried out, and the significance of differences between pre- and postoperative findings and data was tested statistically. Both JOA and UCLA scores improved significantly after surgery (p<0.0001). In ROM, improvement was seen only in the range of flexion (p<0.05), while the range of abduction, external rotation during dropping, and external rotation during abduction decreased after surgery (p<0.05,p<0.001,p<0.01, respectively).Muscular strength improved significantly only in the direction of external rotation (p<0.05). When signal density within the tendon at the supraspinous muscle/tendon attachment site was evaluated by MRI, it had become uniformly low in 27 shoulders (66%). When evaluated by plain X-ray, 7 shoulders showed progression of arthrotic changes. In cases having undergone mini open repair, favorable shoulder joint function was preserved even at 10 years or more after surgery, accompanied by favorable repair of the rotator cuff, and arthritic changes were mild. These long-term results suggest that mini open repair is a promising means of treating rotator cuff tears.
