Arthroscopic Repair of Rotator Cuff Tears Using a Suture Hook With Lasso Loop for Forward Suture Passing

Rotator cuff injury is a common shoulder injury. Arthroscopic repair of rotator cuff tears has become a common way. Suture anchor is a commonly used fixation device. Threading the suture through the rotator cuff tendon is a key step in arthroscopic repair of rotator cuff tears. Common methods of passing suture through the rotator cuff tendon include using a suture hook or rotator cuff suture passer device. However, the suture using suture hook is a kind of reverse suture, and the operation is more troublesome. The rotator cuff suture passer device shows poor economy, which cannot be ignored at the risk of needle core breakage. We combined the advantages of the two suture passing methods to design an improved method by using a suture hook with the Lasso loop for forward suture passing. The key step of our improved technique is to deliver the end of the anchor suture 2-3 cm into the tip opening of suture hook, and ejecting the suture through pushing the Lasso loop after suture forward passing through the tendon. Our technique has achieved economy, safety, and simplicity, and has good clinical application value.