Abstract
In our previous study of 130 bleached skeletal shoulders, we reported the relationship between the slope of the acromion and spur formation on the undersurface of the acromion. There was no significant variation in the slope of the acromion with varing age and degenerative bony change such as pitting on the medial surface of the greater tuberosity was found in older aged specimens.
In this study, we investigated cadaver specimens whether spur formation on th e acromion and pitting on the greater tuberosity correlate to the rotator cuff tear not.
Fourty eight shoulders in 25 cadaver specimens were investigated. The age of the specimens ranged from 34 to 94 years with a mean of 66 years. Twenty five shoulders out of 48 shoulders had spur formation. There was significant correlation between spur formation and rotator cuff tear. Spur formation and rotator cuff tear were often associated with pitting on the greater tuberosity. The data obtained from the cadaveric study indicated that the degenerative bony chamges such as spur formation and pitting coexisted in the majority cases with rotator cuff tears. We explane the clinical relevance of our finding to be that there was a close relationship between the slope of the acromion and spur formation on the undersurface of the acromion. A rotator cuff tear was frequently associated with spur formation on the acromion. Those results show that the slope of the acromion may be an important factor in the natural history of rotator cuff tear.
