Background: Good results of the bridging suture technique (BST) for the rotator cuff tear have been reported. Although medial-row failure was a previously reported mechanism after double-row repair, there have been few reports on the evaluation about the BST. The purpose of this study was to compare clinical results of the BST using medial knot tying and non-tying.
Methods: 36 patients were enrolled in the study. The first group (13males, 5 females, average age: 59.7 years old) had surgeries by BST with medial knot tying and the other group (13 males, 5 females, average age: 60.6 years old) had rotator cuff tears repaired by means of performing BST without medial tying. JOA score and Sugaya's classification were used for the evaluation.
Results: In the tying group, JOA score was improved to 90.1 points. As for postoperative MRI findings, 1 case had type 4 and 1 case had type 5 of re-tear. In the non-tying group, the average postoperative score was 90.1 points, which was a significant improvement the same as the tying group. MRI revealed 1 case of type 4 and 1 case of type 5 re-ear remaining cuff with medial-row failure after re-tear visualized on the foot print in the tying group, which was different from non-tying cases.
Discussion: The postoperative results of the cases with the BST were assessed. Although clinical results of medial knot tying group were almost same as non-tying group, it is suggested that medial concentration stress is considered to be one of factors of the re-tear mechanism.
