Kim YK, et al. - This study was designed to search for the preoperative prognostic factors related to structural integrity following repair of medium-sized and larger rotator cuff tears. Furthermore, using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the cutoff values were also determined. Researchers observed that post-repair healing process was affected by multiple factors, the extent of retraction and occupation ratio being the best predictors of prognosis.

Methods

• A total of 180 patients with medium-sized and larger rotator cuff tears were included in this study, each having a minimum 2-year postoperative follow-up by magnetic resonance imaging.
• Researchers used univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis to evaluate several patient-related and disease-related preoperative factors.
• They performed receiver operating characteristic curve analysis to determine the cutoff value for the significant variables.

Results

• The occurrence of retears was reported in 28 of the 180 patients (15.6%).
• The type of work and pattern of tear significantly affected the retear, as demonstrated in univariate analysis.
• Researchers observed that the rate of retear was significantly increased in diabetes and with increasing tear size, extent of retraction, delamination, and fatty infiltration.
• Furthermore, significant risk factors included reduced remnant tendon length, distance from the musculotendinous junction to the face of the glenoid, occupation ratio, and acromiohumeral interval.
• They found that body mass index, diabetes, dyslipidemia, extent of retraction, delamination, distance from musculotendinous junction to face of glenoid, occupation ratio, fatty infiltration of infraspinatus, and acromiohumeral interval remained significant risk factors in the multivariate analysis.
• Additionally, findings demonstrated that the extent of retraction (22.2 mm) and the occupation ratio (53.5%) displayed highly accurate cutoff values for predicting retear.