BACKGROUND There is debate as to whether to operate or to defer surgery on patients with concomitant rotator cuff tear and shoulder stiffness. The purpose of this study was therefore to compare the outcomes in those patients who had both their rotator cuff tear and shoulder stiffness treated with the outcomes of patients who had a rotator cuff repair but no stiffness. METHODS Twenty-five pati...

Objective: Few investigators have evaluated whether ultrasonography operated by a surgeon during a patient’s clinic visit is capable of obtaining a similar degree of accuracy as magnetic resonance imaging in regard to the diagnosis of rotator cuff tears and lesions of the biceps tendon. The purpose of this study was to clarify the accuracy of in-office ultrasonography for the diagnosis of rotat...

BACKGROUND Rotator cuff pathology is a common source of shoulder pain with variable etiology and pathoanatomical characteristics. Pathological processes of fatty infiltration, muscle atrophy, and fibrosis have all been invoked as causes for poor outcomes after rotator cuff tear repair. The aims of this study were to measure the expression of key genes associated with adipogenesis, myogenesis, a...

We are reporting a case of nonabsorbable suture-induced osteomyelitis in patient who had an open rotator cuff repair with nonabsorbable Ethibond anchor suture. Patient in this case presented with very subtle clinical features of osteomyelitis of the left proximal humerus 15 years after initial rotator cuff repair surgery. Literature had shown that deep infection following rotator cuff repairs, ...

BACKGROUND Massive rotator cuff tears in active patients with minimal glenohumeral arthritis remain a particular challenge for the treating surgeon. METHODS A selective literature search was performed and personal surgical experiences are reported. RESULTS For patients with irreparable rotator cuff tears, a reverse shoulder arthroplasty or a tendon transfer are often performed. However, bot...

Subacromial shoulder pain is commonly located to the top and lateral side of the shoulder. It is exaggerated by overhead activity and can be associated with night pain. It is usually associated with full passive range of movement of the glenohumeral joint. The pain originates from the subacromial space of the shoulder, an area made up of the rotator cuff tendons and the subacromial bursa. This ...

1 MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING FOR THE ROTATOR CUFF TEAR Y. Morisawa, T. Sadahiro, Dept, of Orth, Surg, Kochi Prefectural Hata-Kenmin Hospital, Flec Clinic, Kochi, Japan MRI observation of the rotator cuff tear showing the high signal intensity on the supraspinatus muscle belly (SMB) was examined before and after surgery. The subjects were eleven patients with the massive and global rotator cuff ...

A lthough infection after rotator cuff repair occurs infrequently, it can be a catastrophic complication. To the best of my knowledge, there are only a small number of reports in the literature regarding management of these infections, and none of these report the outcome of a staged arthroscopic approach. Once the infection has resolved, reconstruction of the residual rotator cuff defect can p...

Rotator cuff disease can be related to a number of factors that include degenerative, vascular, traumatic and mechanical causes. The most common cause of rotator cuff pathology is primary degeneration of the rotator cuff tendons with wear and aging. External and internal impingement, microinstability of the shoulder, trauma, overuse associated with athletic and occupational activities, underlyi...

Rotator cuff (RC) tears are one of the most common clinical problems of upper extremity causing shoulder pain and functional loss. The impact of this condition to the socio-economic status of the society is quite significant and cannot be overlooked. In 2002 alone, approximately 40,000 surgical operations were performed in USA at the cost of $14,000 per surgery. There is an ever-growing increas...