2005 Volume 29 Issue 3 Pages 611-614
Global rotator cuff tears were difficult to treat because of the severe degenerative changes of the tendons and lack of material for repair. The purpose of this study was to correlate clinical factors with the outcome of repairs for global rotator cuff tears. From 1970 to 1999 a total of 1523 rotator cuff repairs were done. Included in this study were 181 global tears,377 massive tears, and 381 triangular tears. Frequency tables of the demographic and clinical data were collected from the medical records with a minimum of 1 year follow-up. In the global tear group,146 were males and 35 were females with an average age of 62.1 years old.119 right and 62 left shoulders. Among the factors studied, gender, laterality, occupation and history of trauma had no correlation with the type of tear. Patients with global tears tended to be older (62.1 y.o) and had longer duration of symptoms than those with triangular tears. Those with symptoms of more than 12 months duration tended to have poorer outcome with regards to MMT, ADL and pain. Tears repaired using McLaughlin's technique tended to have better MMT scores, ADL scores and a significant reduction of pain than those repaired with the side to side technique. In summary, the age, duration of symptoms, and operative technique correlated significantly with MMT, ADL and pain scores. We recommended that patients with global rotator cuff tears should be operated on as soon as possible because of utilization of McLaughlin's technique of which the tendon is sutured into a bony trough promoting bone-tendon healing.
