Mini-Open Reconstruction of Rotator Cuff of The Shoulder

Abstract

Background: shoulder pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal (MSK) disorder affecting a large portion of the population. It is estimated that one in three persons will have at least only one episode of shoulder pain within their lifetime. Rotator cuff tears are very common in the general population. Radiographic studies have shown the prevalence of rotator cuff tears to be 4-13% in the population aged between 40-60 years and 20% in population whom age between 60-70 years and 30-50% in population above 70 years. Rotator cuff tears are a common pathology associated with degenerative changes in the shoulder joint. They cause significant disability, pain, dysfunction and poor health status and their prevalence is currently increasing within an aging population. Aim of the Work: the aim of this work was to study the results of mini open rotator cuff repair of the shoulder joint. Patients and Methods: this study was conducted on ten patients presented to Al-Azhar University Hospital with rotator cuff tear of the shoulder. They are treated with mini-open repair technique. All our patients completed a period of at least one year of follow up. Results: a clinical success rate was found in ten patients treated by mini open technique, 70% had excellent and good results according to Constant and Murly score after one year of follow up. Conclusion: repair of rotator cuff tears by mini-open technique is one of the good viable options providing improvement in pain and function of the shoulder joint. Also it is more economic than arthroscopic repair and it does not need high learning curve as arthroscopic repair.