Missed rotator cuff tears in polytraumatized patients

If not identified early, rotator cuff tears in polytraumatized patients can become debilitating. Traumatic rotator cuff tears are often massive, and generally retract over a short period of time. If a tear is missed or becomes irreparable, the consequences are profound, and can be devastating, especially to a younger, active person. In this article, we report 2 cases of initially untreated rotator cuff tears in polytraumatized patients and briefly review the literature.