Outcomes of all arthroscopic versus open rotator cuff repair

Abstract

Background and aim A rotator cuff injury has a significant effect on the quality of life and overall health of patients. Surgical treatment for rotator cuff disease has been found to enhance general health and shoulder discomfort. The surgical repair of rotator cuff tears can be divided into three categories: open, mini-open, and arthroscopic. Independent studies comparing the long-term success of arthroscopically repaired rotator cuff injuries in terms of cuff integrity and clinical outcomes found that arthroscopically repaired rotator cuff injuries have success rates comparable to mini-open and open operations. As a result, the goal of this study was to compare the outcomes of open versus arthroscopic rotator cuff repair operations. Patients and methods A prospective cohort study was performed on 40 rotator cuff repair cases over a period of 18 months from January 2019 to June 2020 after obtaining approval from the local ethics committee. All included patients were divided into two groups: group A included 20 patients who had a single raw, arthroscopic rotator cuff repair, and group B included 20 patients who had an open rotator cuff repair by anchor sutures and acromioplasty. Data of shoulder side, admission date, discharge date, hospital stay duration, postoperative analgesia, procedure duration, intraoperative and postoperative complications, visual analog scale (VAS), and simple shoulder test were obtained for all patients. Results There were no significant changes in pain score VAS preoperatively and postoperatively or intraoperative and postoperative complications between the groups tested. Conclusion Arthroscopy repair and open repair are associated with similar clinical outcomes. No statistically significant differences were found in outcomes of postoperative simple shoulder test score, pain score VAS, and complications.