Background: Although the effectiveness of acromioplasty is controversial, it is commonly performed during rotator cuff repair to reduce external impingement. During follow-up, osteolysis under the acromion (acromial cupping) could be observed. However, this phenomenon has been rarely addressed in the literature. The purpose of this study was to compare the prevalence and severity of acromial cupping after rotator cuff repair depending on the concomitant performance of acromioplasty and evaluate the influence of acromial cupping on clinical and radiological outcome. Methods: This is a retrospective study involving patients who underwent arthroscopic rotator cuff repair for small-to-large fullthickness rotator cuff tears from October 2015 to March 2019 and clinical follow-up and magnetic resonance imaging at least 1 year postoperatively. A total of 110 patients were enrolled and divided into two groups depending on whether acromioplasty had been performed (group A) or not (group N). The prevalence of acromial cupping was evaluated in each group. In addition, we stratified patients according to the severity of acromial cupping to investigate its influence on healing and functional scores (visual analog scale [VAS], American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons [ASES] score, simple shoulder test [SST], and Constant-Murley score). Results: There were 85 patients in group A and 25 patients in group N. The prevalence of acromial cupping and acromial cysts was as follows: 36.4% (40 patients) and 6.4% (7 patients), respectively, in the total subjects; 43.5% (37/85) and 5.9% (5/85), respectively, in group A; and 12.0% (3/25) and 8.0% (2/25), respectively, in group N. The prevalence of acromial cupping was significantly different between the two groups (p = 0.012). However, functional outcomes were not significantly different between groups stratified by the severity of acromial cupping (VAS, p = 0.464; ASES score, p = 0.902; SST, p = 0.816; and Constant-Murley score, p = 0.117). The difference in healing rate was statistically insignificant between groups (p = 0.726). Conclusions The incidence and severity of acromial cupping were significantly greater in patients who underwent rotator cuff repair with acromioplasty. It was a relatively common phenomenon, especially after acromioplasty. However, neither the existence nor the severity of acromial cupping affected functional outcomes or healing.

PURPOSE: We aimed to determine the quantity and quality of research output of selected Asian countries in the field of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in the last 10 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Top 15 Asian countries were selected according to their gross domestic product. The Science Citation Index Expanded database was used to search for the literature published between 2004 and 2013 using "Total Knee Arthroplasty". The numbers of articles, journals and citations and the contribution of each country were analyzed. The articles were classified according to the type of study and the relative proportion of each type was analyzed. RESULTS: Asian surgeons have increasingly contributed to orthopedic literature on TKA for the past 10 years, but the dominant contribution came from only a few countries. The total number of articles published by Asian countries increased by 261%, with Japan producing most of the studies and China showing the maximum growth rate. The majority of studies were published in low impact factor journals. Korea published the highest proportion of articles in high impact factor journals. Clinical papers were most frequent. CONCLUSIONS: Our identification of research productivity pertaining to TKA among Asian countries gives a unique insight into the level of academic research in the field of TKA in these countries. There is a need to improve the quality of research to enhance the publishing power in high impact journals as well as the need for more basic research and epidemiological studies considering the unique differences among Asian patients undergoing TKA.
Arthroplasty ; Asia ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Bibliometrics ; China ; Efficiency ; Gross Domestic Product ; Humans ; Japan ; Knee ; Korea ; Orthopedics