抄録
Few reports have been made on the highly unusual rotator cuff tears in adolescents.
Four cases of rotator cuff tears in adolescents are presented here. The i ncidence of tears in adolescents was 1.4 %. A single trauma was considered the primary cause of the tears in three cases. But one case presented here had no major traumatic episode. In this case, repeated minor injuries while playing baseball was considered to be closely assosiated with the rotator cuff tear. They all presented a deep surface tear of the supraspinatus, and a pinhole-sized complete tear was also found in one case. The tears were surgically repaired with satisfactory results in a short-term follow-up.
Histological examinations demonstrated hyaline degeneration in all the cases and calcified deposits in two of them, which could be interpreted as a reparative process of the tear.
