A simple suture shuttle in rotator cuff repairs: a technical note

In rotator cuff repairs, it is often necessary to pass 2 tails of 2 sutures through 1 transosseous hole to maximize the number of sutures per hole. We report on a simple technique with a double-loop suture thread that allows the passing of more than 1 suture limb through the same hole. This simple device, the simple suture shuttle, used in cuff repairs in combination with the modified Mason-Allen suture technique, significantly reduces the difficulty of passing more than 1 suture tail through a single bone tunnel. By reducing the number of bone tunnels, the weakening of a bone that might not be very strong is kept to a minimum. The Simple Suture Shuttle can also be used to pass more sutures through a given number of transosseous holes.