Arthroscopic repair of massive rotator cuff tears with stage 3 and 4 fatty degeneration

The purpose of this study was to assess the functional results of arthroscopic repair of massive rotator cuff tears in patients who had stage 3 and 4 fatty degeneration of the rotator cuff musculature, according to the Goutallier scale.

From January 1997 to December 2001, 22 patients with massive rotator cuff tears and Goutallier stage 3 or 4 fatty degeneration of the infraspinatus, with a mean age of 66.5 +/- 9.26 years, underwent arthroscopic rotator cuff repair and were available for follow-up. The average tear size was 4.8 +/- 0.85 cm in medial-to-lateral width and 6.2 +/- 1.53 cm in anterior-to-posterior length, with an approximate tear size area of 30.0 +/- 10.0 sq cm, and involved 2 tendons (supraspinatus and infraspinatus) or 3 tendons (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, and subscapularis) in each case. The mean time from surgery to follow-up was 39.3 months (range, 24-60 months). In addition to comparison of preoperative and postoperative range of motion, strength and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) score, outcomes were also assessed with the Constant score.

The increase of mean active forward elevation was 53.7 degrees (preoperative: 103.2 degrees and postoperatively: 156.9 degrees ). The gain of mean active external rotation was 19.1 degrees (preoperative: 35.7 degrees and postoperative: 54.8 degrees). The gain of mean external rotation power was 1.9 (preoperative: 2.3 and postoperative: 4.2). The improvement in the UCLA score was 17.2 points (preoperative: 12.3 and postoperative: 29.5). The mean postoperative Constant score was 74.8/100, and the weighted postoperative Constant score was 88.5/100. In 5 patients with fatty degeneration greater than 75% (advanced stage 4), results were less dramatically improved than in 17 patients with fatty degeneration of 50% to 75%, all of whom exhibited clinical improvement. However, clinical improvement was achieved even in 2 of 5 patients with advanced stage 4 involvement.

Arthroscopic rotator cuff repair in patients with grade 3 or 4 fatty degeneration (> or =50%) can provide significant functional improvement. Those with 50% to 75% fatty degeneration showed a much greater degree of improvement (with all 17 cases exhibiting beneficial postoperative increases in their UCLA scores ranging from 12 to 26 points) than those with >75% fatty degeneration (with only 2 of 5 cases showing an increase of 10 or more points in their UCLA scores). However, clinical improvement was observed in 86.4% of cases that would have been classified as likely to fail by the Goutallier criteria.

Level IV, therapeutic case series.