[Fibular longus muscle bridging lower trapezius tendon transfer for irreparable posterosuperior rotator cuff tears]

To explore feasibility of fibular longus muscle bridging lower trapezius tendon transfer in treating irreparable posterosuperior rotator cuff tears.

A retrospective analysis was conducted on 11 patients with irreparable posterosuperior rotator cuff tears who underwent translocation treatment using autologous peroneus longus tendon bridging the inferior bundle of trapezius muscle from June 2022 to January 2024, including 5 males and 6 females;aged from 60 to 77 years old;3 patients on the left side and 8 patients on the right side;7 patients with grade 1 and 4 patients with grade 2 according to Hamada classification;the courses of disease ranged from 3 to 10 months. The changes in abduction angle and external rotation angle were compared before operation and 9 months after operation, and Constant-Murley score and visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain were used to evaluate the recovery of shoulder joint function and degree of pain.

All 11 patients were followed up from 9 to 20 months. The abduction angle and external rotation angle increased from 13° to 36° and 5° to 18° before operation to 47° to 153° and 21° to 45° respectively at 9 months after operation. VAS and Constant-Murley scores increased from 4 to 9 and 25 to 41 points before operation to 0 to 3 and 57 to 94 points at 9 months after operation. According to Constant-Murley score at 9 months after operation, 3 patients got excellent result, 6 patients good, and 2 fair.

Fibular longus muscle bridging lower trapezius tendon transfer in treating irreparable posterosuperior rotator cuff tears has achieved satisfactory results in alleviating shoulder joint pain and improving shoulder joint function.