Failure With Continuity in Rotator Cuff Repair ‘‘Healing’’

Background: Ten to seventy percent of rotator cuff repairs form a recurrent defect after surgery. The relationship between retrac-tion of the repaired tendon and formation of a recurrent defect is not well defined. Purpose/Hypotheses: To measure the prevalence, timing, and magnitude of tendon retraction after rotator cuff repair and cor-relate these outcomes with formation of a full-thickness recurrent tendon defect on magnetic resonance imaging, as well as clin-ical outcomes. We hypothesized that (1) tendon retraction is a common phenomenon, although not always associated with a recurrent defect; (2) formation of a recurrent tendon defect correlates with the timing of tendon retraction; and (3) clinical out-come correlates with the magnitude of tendon retraction at 52 weeks and the formation of a recurrent tendon defect. Study Design: Case series; Level of evidence, 4. Methods: Fourteen patients underwent arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. Tantalum markers placed within the repaired tendons were used to assess tendon retraction by computed tomography scan at 6, 12, 26, and 52 weeks after operation. Magnetic res-onance imaging was performed to assess for recurrent tendon defects. Shoulder function was evaluated using the Penn score, visual analog scale (VAS) score for pain, and isometric scapular-plane abduction strength. Results: All rotator cuff repairs retracted away from their position of initial fixation during the first year after surgery (mean [stan-dard deviation], 16.1 [5.3] mm; range, 5.7-23.2 mm), yet only 30 % of patients formed a recurrent defect. Patients who formed a recurrent defect tended to have more tendon retraction during the first 6 weeks after surgery (9.7 [6.0] mm) than those wh