Mild Biceps Tendonitis May Be Managed Nonoperatively During Shoulder Arthroscopy

The purposes of this study were to determine whether patients with mild biceps tendonitis required revision surgery after the biceps tendon was not surgically treated, while addressing concomitant pathology, and to evaluate whether preoperative groove pain affected patient-reported outcomes.

Patients who underwent shoulder arthroscopy between 2015 and 2018 by a single surgeon for rotator cuff pathology, debridement, and distal clavicular excision (DCE), with or without subacromial decompression (SAD), and where the biceps tendon was not surgically addressed were retrospectively identified. Inclusion criteria were mild LS (<50% hyperemic appearing biceps tendon arthroscopically), and a minimum 2-year follow-up. The primary outcome measure was the incidence of revision surgery. Secondary outcomes included American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) score, simple shoulder test (SST), pain level, and satisfaction scores. Two sample t-tests compared postoperative patient-reported outcomes based on the presence or absence of preoperative bicipital groove tenderness.

Sixty-four of 69 eligible subjects (93%) were evaluated at a minimum of 2 years postoperatively. One out of 64 subjects underwent revision to perform a biceps tenodesis. Overall, patients had high patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) postoperatively. Ninety-seven percent of patients reported they would have the surgery again. The presence of preoperative bicipital groove tenderness had no effect on ASES (P = .62), SST (P = .83) scores, and postoperative pain (P = .65). Patients without bicipital groove pain had average respective ASES and SST scores of 93.70 ± 11.84 and 10.66 ± 2.47; those with bicipital groove pain averaged 92.00 ± 15.31 and 10.78 ± 1.87. There was no significant difference in overall satisfaction scores between patients with groove pain (9.42 ± 1.40) and those without (9.46 ± 1.38; P = .92).

Patients with mild biceps tendonitis showed favorable outcomes with low revision rates and high patient satisfaction when the biceps tendon was not surgically addressed when the primary shoulder pathology was treated during arthroscopy, independent of preoperative groove pain.

Level III, retrospective cohort study.