What’s New in Shoulder and Elbow Surgery

Abstract

This annual update on shoulder and elbow surgery is based on a review of presentations at meetings of the Arthroscopy Association of North America (Specialty Day, March 25, 2006, Chicago, Illinois; Twenty-fifth Annual Meeting, May 18 to 21, 2006, Hollywood, Florida), the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (Twenty-second Open Meeting, Specialty Day, March 25, 2006, Chicago, Illinois; Twenty-third Closed Meeting, September 13 to 15, 2006, Chicago, Illinois), The American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (Specialty Day, March 25, 2006, Chicago, Illinois), the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (Seventy-third Annual Meeting, March 22 to 25, 2006, Chicago, Illinois), and the Orthopaedic Research Society (Fifty-second Annual Meeting, March 19 to 22, 2006, Chicago, Illinois). ### Rotator Cuff #### Basic Science Park proposed a transosseous equivalent rotator cuff repair technique and performed a biomechanical study to evaluate footprint contact pressure in a variety of repair configurations. A “suture-bridging” technique utilizing medial anchors with suture limbs traversing over the cuff to a lateral interference screw attachment was compared with a double-row anchor repair. A four-limb suture bridge (two medial anchors with four limbs over the cuff laterally) established a significantly higher mean contact pressure area (72.3%) compared with a two-limb suture bridge (57.3%) and a double-row repair (35.1%) (p < 0.05). The authors concluded that increasing footprint contact pressure may aid in rotator cuff healing. #### Impingement Milano investigated the influence of acromioplasty on outcome following arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. Eighty patients were prospectively randomized into two groups, with half undergoing rotator cuff repair with acromioplasty and half undergoing rotator cuff repair without acromioplasty. The outcome measures that were evaluated were the Constant score and the Quick-DASH and Work-DASH self-administered questionnaires. Comparison between the two groups failed to demonstrate a significant difference at two years of follow-up. The authors concluded that acromioplasty does not affect the outcome of arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. …