抄録
The healing process of repaired tendon insertion of the rotator cuff was studied biomechanically up to 24 weeks after operation. The right supraspinatus tendons of twenty-one adult mongrel dogs were repaired by tendon suturing to bone; tendons were transected near the insertion and reattached to the trough cut at the greater tuberosity using 1-Surgilon (experimentals). The left shoulder of each animal was designated as the sham operated control. Another 5 dogs with no surgical interventions were designated as the normal controls.
Tensile testing of failure was performed with supraspinatus tendon-bone units under low strain-rate conditions. The major mode of failure changed from avulsion at 6-12 weeks to tendon disruption at 24 weeks. Increasing load to failure, stiffness and load failure energy were noted for experimentals from 2 to 12 weeks, reaching their plateau after 12 weeks. Mean values of these three parameters reached only 70%∼85% of those of the controls at 24 weeks.
