Data from a study conducted in Japan and presented at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) annual meeting suggest that arthroscopic superior capsule reconstruction may be a viable surgical option for irreparable rotator cuff tears. 

The researchers performed arthroscopic superior capsule reconstruction on 102 shoulders (100 patients) with irreparable rotator cuff tears and that had failed conservative treatment. At mean 48-month follow-up, they found that all 26 patients who had played (mostly recreational) sports prior to injury had returned fully to their previous participation levels. In addition, 32 patients had returned fully to their previous jobs, while two patients returned with reduced hours and workloads. Furthermore, 95 of 102 shoulders (93.1 percent) had no graft tear or no re-tear of the repaired rotator cuff tendon during the follow-up period, while three shoulders (2.9 percent) with severe fatty degeneration of the infraspinatus tendon had re-tear of the repaired infraspinatus tendon at 3 months following surgery. Four shoulders (3.9 percent) suffered a postoperative graft tear by 3 months (2 patients) or 1 year (2 patients) after surgery. Following arthroscopic superior capsule reconstruction, average clinical outcome scores and shoulder active range of motion improved significantly at final follow-up. Learn more...