Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Nov;37(11):2173-9.
doi: 10.1007/s00264-013-1963-9. Epub 2013 Jun 22.

The acromial index is not predictive for failed rotator cuff repair

Patricio Melean  1 , Sven Lichtenberg, Fredy Montoya, Stephan Riedmann, Petra Magosch, Peter Habermeyer
Affiliations

The acromial index is not predictive for failed rotator cuff repair

Patricio Melean et al. Int Orthop. 2013 Nov.

Abstract

Background: The main objective of this study was to evaluate the association between the acromial index (AI) and the incidence of recurrent tears of the rotator cuff (RC) in a cohort of patients with full thickness tears who underwent arthroscopic primary repair.

Methods: A prognostic study of a prospective case series of 103 patients with full thickness RC tears was undertaken. The average age was 59.5 years (39-74) and follow-up was 30.81 months (12-72). True anterior-posterior X-rays were obtained during the pre-operative evaluation. Pre and post-operative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were recorded.

Results: Eighteen cases with recurrent tears (17.4%) were seen on post-operative MRI. The average AI for patients with recurrent tears was 0.711 ± 0.065 and for patients without recurrent tears 0.710 ± 0.064 (p < 0.05). A positive association between age and recurrent tears of the RC was noted (average ages: recurrent tears group 63 ± 5.9 years; group without recurrent tears 58.8 ± 7.5 years) (r = -0.216; p = 0.029). We did not find an association between size of the primary tear and recurrent tears (r = -0.075; p < 0.05) or between degrees of retraction of the primary and recurrent tears of the cuff (r = -0.073; p < 0.05). We observed that 38.9% of the recurrent tears cases presented with more than one tendon affected before the arthroscopy. At follow-up, none of these recurrent tears showed more than one tendon affected on MRI evaluation.

Conclusion: In this study, we found that the AI radiological measurement is not a predictor for recurrent tears of the RC after primary arthroscopic repair.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
In this figure we observe a true anteroposterior X-ray of the left shoulder, where the acromial index (AI) was measured according to Nyffeler et al. [17]. GH gleno–humeral distance, GA glenoid–acromion distance
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
In this figure we observe a coronal T2 sequence MRI image of a failed RC repair. An adequate subacromial space is observed; failure is located medial to the repair
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Pfalzer F, Endele D, Huth J, Bauer G, Mauch F. Clinical and MRI results after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair using the double-row technique. A consecutive study. [Klinische und magnetresonanztomographische Ergebnisse nach arthroskopischer Rotatorenmanschettenrekonstruktion in “Double-row”-Technik. Eine serielle Studie] Obere Extremitat. 2011;6(4):267–274. doi: 10.1007/s11678-011-0117-1. - DOI
    1. Papadopoulos P, Karataglis D, Boutsiadis A, Fotiadou A, Christoforidis J, Christodoulou A. Functional outcome and structural integrity following mini-open repair of large and massive rotator cuff tears: a 3-5 year follow-up study. J Shoulder Elbow Surg. 2011;20(1):131–137. doi: 10.1016/j.jse.2010.05.026. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hanusch BC, Goodchild L, Finn P, Rangan A. Large and massive tears of the rotator cuff: functional outcome and integrity of the repair after a mini-open procedure. J Bone Joint Surg Am B. 2009;91(2):201–205. doi: 10.1302/0301-620X.91B2.21286. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cummins CA, Murrell GAC. Mode of failure for rotator cuff repair with suture anchors identified at revision surgery. J Shoulder Elbow Surg. 2003;12(2):128–133. doi: 10.1067/mse.2003.21. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Miller BS, Downie BK, Kohen RB, Kijek T, Lesniak B, Jacobson JA, Hughes RE, Carpenter JE. When do rotator cuff repairs fail? Serial ultrasound examination after arthroscopic repair of large and massive rotator cuff tears. Am J Sports Med. 2011;39(10):2064–2070. doi: 10.1177/0363546511413372. - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources