Subacromial space volume in patients with rotator cuff tear: The effect of surgical repair

Özet

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the rotator cuff tear repair on subacromialspace volume.Methods: We retrospectively identified 21 eligible patients (5 males and 16 females; mean age: 56.4(range; 46e71) years) who had shoulder arthroscopy for unilateral full-thickness small to medium rotatorcuff tear and normal controlateral shoulder joint. The mean follow-up time was 16.1 (range; 12e25)months. Preoperative and postoperative 1 year bilateral shoulder MRIs and Constant scores werereviewed. Subacromial volume was calculated by using Osirix software. Pre-, postoperative and healthyside (contralateral control group) subacromial volumes were recorded. Paired sample and t-tests wereused to compare the pre- and postoperative groups. Independent sample t-tests were used to comparethe healthy and pre- and postoperative groups. The correlation between the changes in the subacromialvolume and the shoulder Constant score were analyzed using Pearson correlation analyses.Results: The mean subacromial volume of the preoperative group was 2.95 cm3 (range; 1.53e4.23) andthe postoperative group was 3.59 cm3 (range; 2.12e4.84). The volume increase was statistically significant(p < 0.05). The mean subacromial volume of the control group was 3.93 cm3 (range; 2.77e5.03),and the difference between the preoperative group and the control group was statistically significant.There was no significant difference found between the postoperative group and the control group(p ¼ 0.156). There was no significant correlation found between the volume and the constant scorechanges (r ¼ 0.170, p ¼ 0.515).Conclusion: The subacromial space volume significantly decreases in full-thickness rotator cuff tearssmaller than 3 cm and the surgical repair increases the subacromial volume significantly.