Important Preliminary Findings on the Potential Role for Nandrolone Decanoate in the Treatment of Chronic Rotator Cuff Tears.

Abstract

Clinical and animal studies have shown that following chronic rotator cuff tendon tears, the muscle undergoes degeneration and profound architectural changes, including fatty infiltration and shortened muscle fibers, with an accompanying loss of contractility and elasticity1-6. These changes have been assumed to be irreversible and can lead to persistent disability despite technically successful tendon repair. Hence, there is an urgent need for reliable interventions to impede, and potentially reverse, these pathological changes after rotator cuff tears. In the current rabbit study, Gerber et al. investigated the capacity of anabolic steroid treatment to diminish muscle atrophy and fatty infiltration following supraspinatus tendon release from its osseous insertion. To prevent spontaneous healing, the tendon-bone chip complex was wrapped in a Penrose drain. The authors examined three experimental groups: (I) untreated muscle, (II) weekly systemic and local injections of nandrolone decanoate (into the quadriceps femoris and supraspinatus muscles, respectively), and (III) weekly systemic administration of nandrolone …