Clinical Outcome of Open Repair of Large and Massive Rotator Cuff Tear

Rotator cuff tear is one of the major causes of shoulder pain and disability especially in over 60 year old age people. The problems with arthroscopic repair and also failure to repair with strong and valuable sutures in massive tears have increased the trend towards open surgery. This study was done to assess repair of rotator cuff tear by open surgery. In this cross-sectional study, 14 candidates (8 female, 6 male) for rotator cuff surgery, were assessed for shoulder function by the use of ASES and SST scoring systems, before and after surgery, by the same observing orthopaedic surgeon. Mean age of patients was 57.94±14.04 years old. The mean SST score before surgery and 6 and 9 months after surgery were 10.17, 10.67 and 10.81, respetively; with a significant post-operative improvement (p=.026). The mean ASES score before surgery, 6 and 9 months post surgery were 42.82, 47.95 and 57.43, respectively; showing significant improvement after surgery (p=.025). The open surgical repair of rotator cuff tear is effective and shoulder function improves and pain decreases significantly. This is with the technique of constructing a surface, rather than making a trough, and also using of interoseous suture rather than anchor suture.