INTRODUCTION: Shortening of the tendon and muscle is recognised as a strong predictor of surgical failure of supraspinatus tendon tears. Changes in muscle architecture following repair have not been thoroughly investigated. Hence, we aimed to compare the pre- and postoperative architecture of the supraspinatus. METHODS: We recruited eight participants with full-thickness supraspinatus tears. Images of the supraspinatus were captured preoperatively (pre-op) and postoperatively at one month (post-op1), three months (post-op2) and six months (post-op3) in relaxed and contracted states (0º and 60º glenohumeral abduction). Fibre bundle length (FBL), pennation angle (PA) and muscle thickness were quantified. Self-reported function, and maximal isometric abduction and external rotation strengths were assessed. RESULTS: The mean FBL increased from pre-op to post-op1 (p = 0.001) in the relaxed state and from pre-op to post-op2 (p = 0.002) in the contracted state. Decrease in FBL was observed from post-op2 to post-op3 in the relaxed state. The mean PA decreased from pre-op to post-op1 (p < 0.001) in the relaxed state, but increased from post-op2 to post-op3 in both relaxed (p = 0.006) and contracted (p = 0.004) states. At post-op3, external rotation (p = 0.009) and abduction (p = 0.005) strengths were greater than at post-op2. Overall function increased by 47.67% from pre-op to post-op3. CONCLUSION Lengthening of the supraspinatus occurs with surgery, altering the length-tension relationship of the muscle, which can compromise muscle function and lead to inferior surgical outcomes. These findings may guide clinicians to optimise loads, velocities and shoulder ranges for effective postoperative rehabilitation.
Humans ; Rotator Cuff/surgery* ; Rotator Cuff Injuries/surgery* ; Shoulder/surgery* ; Shoulder Joint/surgery* ; Tendons

Rotator cuff repair is a common treatment for rotator cuff tear, which could effectively relieve shoulder pain and improve shoulder movement, and the incidence of rotator cuff retear after rotator cuff repair is still high. The main reason is poor tendon-bone healing in rotator cuff enthesis after rotator cuff repair and could not recover the original histological structure and biomechanical properties. Therefore, the key to solve the problem is how to effectively improve the healing of tendon bone at the end of rotator cuff. With the in-depth study of rotator cuff enthesis, various treatments have made great progress on improving tendon to bone healing of rotator cuff. Our study will discuss the researchprogress on tendon to bone healing of rotator cuff in recent years from three following aspects to provide some guidance for the clinical treatment of rotator cuff tear:the factors affecting the tendon to bone healing of rotator cuff, the recovery of tendon to bone interface promoting the tendon to bone healing of rotator cuff and the application of tissue engineering in tendon to bone healing.
Arthroplasty ; Humans ; Rotator Cuff ; surgery ; Rotator Cuff Injuries ; surgery ; Tendons ; surgery ; Wound Healing

The rate of rotator cuff injury repair and retear is high in elderly patients due to the combination of different degrees of osteoporosis. To solve this problem, many surgeons try to reduce retear rate of rotator cuff injuries in these patients by increasing the initial fixation strength of anchors and changing local bone conditions. The rapid advances of tissue engineering have made it possible to use growth factors as an aid. However, repair of rotator cuff injury with osteoporosis is still a great challenge for clinical workers. How to better increase anchor fixation strength, improve micro-environment of tendon and bone healing, reduce the rotator cuff retear rate have become the research focus in recent years. The paper reviewed literatures on the relationshipbetween osteoporosis and rotator cuff injury, effect of osteoporosis in rotator cuff tendon healing, methods of reducing osteoporosis on rotator cuff tendon healing, in order to guide clinical treatment, improve operative effect and postoperative satisfaction.
Aged ; Arthroplasty ; Humans ; Osteoporosis ; Rotator Cuff/surgery* ; Rotator Cuff Injuries/surgery* ; Tendons/surgery*

OBJECTIVE: To compare the effect of two different arthroscopic procedures, threading lasso fixation and full-thickness conversion, for repairing articular-sided partial-thickness supraspinatus tendon tear. METHODS: From July 2015 to November 2018, 21 patients with articular-sided partial-thickness supraspinatus tendon tears underwent arthroscopic modified threading lasso fixation repair(group A). There were 12 males and 9 females in the group, with an average age of(53.2±6.4)years old. Twenty-four patients with articular-sided partial-thickness supraspinatus tendon tears received arthroscopic full-thickness conversion repair(group B). In this group, there were 14 males and 10 females, with an average age of (55.7±5.2) years old. The American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) score and University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) shoulder score were used to evaluate preoperative and postoperative clinical function. MRI was used to examine the healing status of the reconstructed rotator cuff. RESULTS: All patients were followed up, and the duration ranged from 20 to 27 months, with a mean of (23.7±3.1) months. In threading lasso fixation group, ASES score and UCLA score increased from 50.6±6.4 and 15.6±2.7 preoperatively to 87.3±5.2 and 31.6±2.4 postoperatively. In full-thickness conversion group, ASES score and UCLA score increased from 52.3±5.6 and 16.8±2.4 scores to 90.1±4.8 and 32.1±2.8. There were also no significant differences in ASES score and Constant score between the two groups before and after operation. There were no significant differences in rotator cuff healing between the two groups(χ²=2.374, P=0.128). CONCLUSION For the treatment of articular-sided partial-thickness supraspinatus tendon tears both arthroscopic repairs employing threading lasso fixation and full-thickness conversion could achieve satisfactory clinical results, and there are no significant differences in clinical outcomes between the two techniques. Arthroscopic repair with threading lasso fixation is a novel transtendinous procedure in which integrity of the tendon can be preserved.
Arthroscopy/methods* ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Rotator Cuff ; Rotator Cuff Injuries/surgery* ; Shoulder/surgery* ; Tendons

OBJECTIVE: To compare and analyze the biomechanical differences between different transosseous techniques in arthroscopic repairment of rotator cuff injuries by finite element analysis. METHODS: Finite element models of traditional arthroscopic transosseous(ATO) technique, giant needle technique, and ArthroTunneler(AT) technique were established based on the shoulder CT data of a healthy adult. Then, loads of 10 N and 20 N were applied to the sutures on the different technical models, respectively. Compare and analyze the stress changes of the bone tunnels and sutures of the three models were compared and analyzed. RESULTS: Under the same condition of loading, the stress on the lateral bone tunnels and sutures of the traditional ATO technology model was the largest, followed by the giant needle technology model. The stress on the mid-section bone tunnels and sutures of the AT technology model was the largest, followed by the giant needle technology model. Under the different conditions of loading, the high-stress areas of the three models were mainly concentrated on the contact area between the sutures and the bone tunnels. Besides, compared with the traditional ATO technology model, the stress distribution of the lateral bone tunnels and sutures of the giant needle technology and AT technology model were more dispersed, but there was obvious stress concentration phenomena in the stress distribution in the mid-section bone tunnels and sutures in the AT technology model. CONCLUSION Compared with the traditional ATO technique, both the giant needle technique and the AT technique can reduce the risk of cutout between the bone tunnel and suture, and may be better treatments for rotator cuff tear. However, compared with the giant needle technique, the application of AT technique in patients with osteoporosis may be limited.
Adult ; Humans ; Rotator Cuff Injuries/surgery* ; Rotator Cuff/surgery* ; Finite Element Analysis ; Arthroscopy/methods* ; Suture Techniques

Shoulder arthroscopic as a conventional method usually is applied to repair rotator cuff tears. In clinical, plenty single-row, double-row and transosseous tunnels suture technique are performed, but the ideal suture technique for rotator cuff repair is not found. Compared with single-row, double-row has better strength in biomechanics property. As the two best suture technique among the single-row, massive cuff stitch and modified Mason-Allen suture have the strongest biomechanics property. Clinical trials indicate that double-row could improve healing rates, but there are no significant difference in clinical outcome functional scores. Transosseous tunnel techniques possess a better bio-mechanic property, which could improve regional micro-environment and induce tendon-bone healing. Transosseous tunnel techniques are better for small to media size rotator cuff tears and osteoporosis patient. The author suggest that optimal rotator cuff repair technique should performed according to skill of performer and individual of patient by analysing bio-mechanic properties, clinical outcome, operative complexity and patient situation. The technique should follow simple opertaion, rapid, less trauma, stable fixation and utility to perform.
Arthroscopy ; Humans ; Rotator Cuff/surgery* ; Rotator Cuff Injuries/surgery* ; Suture Anchors ; Suture Techniques ; Sutures

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the diagnostic value of 6 conventional physical examination tests for the diagnosis of supraspinatus tendon tears, and how well they could tell the difference between partial-and full-thickness tears. METHODS: A total of 91 patients with different shoulder symptoms who received shoulder arthroscopic procedure were enrolled in the study from June 2017 to September 2020. The intraoperative findings were compared with the results of the preoperative physical examination of 6 clinical tests, including the Hug-up test, the Jobe test, the 0°abduction test, the drop arm test, the Neer test, and the Hawkins test, to determine the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value, accuracy, positive and negative likelihood ratio of each test. RESULTS: By arthroscopy, a total of 44 full-thickness tears, 34 partial-thickness tears, and 13 intact supraspinatus tendons were found in all 91 cases. The Hug-up and the Jobe tests significantly correlated with the intraoperative findings. The sensitivity of the Hug-up test, the Jobe test, the 0° abduction test, the drop arm test, the Neer test, and the Hawkins test was 0.90, 0.79, 0.64, 0.42, 0.49, 0.24 respectively;the specificity was 0.61, 0.69, 0.54, 0.38, 0.31, 0.77;the positive predictive value was 0.93, 0.94, 0.89, 0.80, 0.81, 0.86;the negative predictive value was 0.50, 0.36, 0.20, 0.10, 0.09, 0.14;the accuracy was 0.86, 0.78, 0.63, 0.42, 0.46, 0.32;the positive likelihood ratio was 2.30, 2.58, 1.39, 0.69, 0.71, 1.06;and the negative likelihood ratio was 0.16, 0.30, 0.67, 1.50, 1.65, 0.98. CONCLUSION The Jobe test and the Hug-up test are both effective at accurately diagnosing supraspinatus tendon tears, the Hug-up test detects supraspinatus tears with a high sensitivity, and similar specificity. The tests assessed in this study are not capable of distinguish between partial-and full thickness supraspinatus tendon tears.
Arthroscopy ; Humans ; Physical Examination/methods* ; Rotator Cuff ; Rotator Cuff Injuries/surgery* ; Tendons

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the preoperative pulmonary function in rotator cuff injury patients and the possible influencing factors. METHODS: All the rotator cuff surgery patients who underwent pre-operative pulmonary function examination in Peking University Third Hospital from Jan. 2020 to Jun. 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. Their perioperative medical records and main parameters of pulmonary function were collected from database management system, and their gender, age, body mass index (BMI), smoking history, time from injury, visual analogue scale (VAS) and other factors impacting on preoperative pulmonary function were studied. RESULTS: Twenty-nine patients with rotator cuff injury were included, among whom 1 patient was reported to have restrictive ventilation dysfunction and 2 patients to have obstructive ventilation dysfunction. All the three patients denied the history of respiratory diseases, and had no respiratory symptoms. In all enrolled patients, the mean forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1)/ forced vital capacity (FVC) was 79.2%±5.9%, and the mean VAS pain score was 3.66±1.26. In addition, the dynamic pulmonary functions (FVC, FEV1) were reduced in more than half of the elderly, and the total lung capacity (TLC) was lower than the estimated value in 2/3 of the elderly. There were significant differences in three main indexes of pulmonary functions between genders, and the percentage of the estimated TLC between normal BMI group (18 kg/m² < BMI < 24 kg/m²) and overweight/obesity group (BMI≥24 kg/m²) was significantly different. Based on the injury time longer than 1 year or not, the results indicated that FVC and TLC were significantly different between the two groups. CONCLUSION In addition to gender and age, time from injury and severity of pain, as well as overweight/obesity, may influence pulmonary function outcomes in the elderly rotator cuff patients. Targeted intervention can be carried out on these factors before surgery. Preoperative lung function test can be used as one of the basic evaluation indexes for respiratory training and rehabilitation of patients.
Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Lung ; Male ; Respiratory Function Tests ; Retrospective Studies ; Rotator Cuff ; Rotator Cuff Injuries/surgery*

Anterior Cruciate Ligament ; surgery ; Arthroscopy ; methods ; Humans ; Menisci, Tibial ; surgery ; Posterior Cruciate Ligament ; surgery ; Rotator Cuff ; surgery ; Rotator Cuff Injuries

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of chitosan (CS) hydrogel loaded with tendon-derived stem cells (TDSCs; hereinafter referred to as TDSCs/CS hydrogel) on tendon-to-bone healing after rotator cuff repair in rabbits. METHODS: TDSCs were isolated from the rotator cuff tissue of 3 adult New Zealand white rabbits by Henderson step-by-step enzymatic digestion method and identified by multidirectional differentiation and flow cytometry. The 3rd generation TDSCs were encapsulated in CS to construct TDSCs/CS hydrogel. The cell counting kit 8 (CCK-8) assay was used to detect the proliferation of TDSCs in the hydrogel after 1-5 days of culture in vitro, and cell compatibility of TDSCs/CS hydrogel was evaluated by using TDSCs alone as control. Another 36 adult New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into 3 groups ( n=12): rotator cuff repair group (control group), rotator cuff repair+CS hydrogel injection group (CS group), and rotator cuff repair+TDSCs/CS hydrogel injection group (TDSCs/CS group). After establishing the rotator cuff repair models, the corresponding hydrogel was injected into the tendon-to-bone interface in the CS group and TDSCs/CS group, and no other treatment was performed in the control group. The general condition of the animals was observed after operation. At 4 and 8 weeks, real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) was used to detect the relative expressions of tendon forming related genes (tenomodulin, scleraxis), chondrogenesis related genes (aggrecan, sex determining region Y-related high mobility group-box gene 9), and osteogenesis related genes (alkaline phosphatase, Runt-related transcription factor 2) at the tendon-to-bone interface. At 8 weeks, HE and Masson staining were used to observe the histological changes, and the biomechanical test was used to evaluate the ultimate load and the failure site of the repaired rotator cuff to evaluate the tendon-to-bone healing and biomechanical properties. RESULTS: CCK-8 assay showed that the CS hydrogel could promote the proliferation of TDSCs ( P<0.05). qPCR results showed that the expressions of tendon-to-bone interface related genes were significantly higher in the TDSCs/CS group than in the CS group and control group at 4 and 8 weeks after operation ( P<0.05). Moreover, the expressions of tendon-to-bone interface related genes at 8 weeks after operation were significantly higher than those at 4 weeks after operation in the TDSCs/CS group ( P<0.05). Histological staining showed the clear cartilage tissue and dense and orderly collagen formation at the tendon-to-bone interface in the TDSCs/CS group. The results of semi-quantitative analysis showed that compared with the control group, the number of cells, the proportion of collagen fiber orientation, and the histological score in the TDSCs/CS group increased, the vascularity decreased, showing significant differences ( P<0.05); compared with the CS group, the proportion of collagen fiber orientation and the histological score in the TDSCs/CS group significantly increased ( P<0.05), while there was no significant difference in the number of cells and vascularity ( P>0.05). All samples in biomechanical testing failed at the repair site during the testing process. The ultimate load of the TDSCs/CS group was significantly higher than that of the control group ( P<0.05), but there was no significant difference compared to the CS group ( P>0.05). CONCLUSION TDSCs/CS hydrogel can induce cartilage regeneration to promote rotator cuff tendon-to-bone healing.
Rabbits ; Animals ; Rotator Cuff/surgery* ; Chitosan ; Hydrogels ; Rotator Cuff Injuries/surgery* ; Wound Healing ; Tendons/surgery* ; Collagen ; Stem Cells ; Biomechanical Phenomena