Rotator cuff repair. A biomechanical comparison of three techniques

The most common complication of rotator cuff repair is structural failure at the repair site. A single-layer repair does not adequately reproduce the anatomic insertion and may not optimize fixation strength.

A double-layer rotator cuff repair will have greater initial fixation strength than a single-layer repair.

Controlled laboratory study.

Twelve fresh-frozen matched pairs of cadaveric shoulders were repaired by using dual-site fixation with both suture anchors and transosseous tunnels on one side (technique 1). Fixation was achieved by using suture anchors with horizontal mattress sutures and bone tunnels with modified Mason-Allen sutures. Half of the contralateral matched shoulders underwent fixation with suture anchors and simple sutures to simulate commonly used arthroscopic methods (technique 2) and, in the rest, fixation was achieved by using transosseous tunnels and modified Mason-Allen sutures (technique 3). Repaired specimens then underwent cyclic loading at physiologic rates and loads. The number of cycles to failure, which was defined as a 1-cm gap at the repair site, was then recorded. An arbitrary cut-off point of 5000 cycles was chosen.

The mean number of cycles to failure with technique 1 (3694 +/- 1980 cycles) was significantly greater than that with either technique 2 (1414 +/- 1888 cycles) or technique 3 (528 +/- 683 cycles). Failure was predominantly through bone.

The initial fixation strength of our double-layer repair exceeds that of isolated single-layer repairs with either suture anchors or transosseous tunnels.