It is very hard to reconstruct the shoulder function of a massive rotator cuff tear. The purpose of this study was to clarify the operative indication and the postoperative results of these patients. Twenty-seven cases of massive rotator cuff tear were studied with the shoulder score of the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA). The score of pain, function, active daily living, range of motion, XP, and instability were improved, postoperatively. Total points of the JOA score were 58.1 points, preoperatively. It became to 87.6 points, postoperatively, which was a significant improvement. Totally, results were acceptable, but there were some small recovery cases. We should suture semitendinous and gracilis tendon loops to the intramuscular tendon of the supraspinatus and infraspinatus muscles at first. It was useful to graft semitendinous tendon and gracilis tendon for a massive tear of the rotator cuff, which we could not repair with McLaughlin's method.
