No difference in clinical outcome after rotator cuff repair performed within or later than 3 months after trauma: a retrospective cohort study.

Purpose: Rotator cuff (RC) tear is one of the most common injuries of the shoulder. Patients with RC tears often report a trauma initiating shoulder pain and impaired function. The aim of this retrospective analysis of a prospectively registered cohort was to elucidate whether the time interval between the trauma and RC repair, using a cut off of 3 months, affects the functional outcome after 2 years.

Prognostic Factors for Functional Outcome After Rotator Cuff Repair: A Prospective Cohort Study With 2-Year Follow-up.

Background: Although shoulder function is reported to be generally good after rotator cuff repair, limited knowledge exists regarding which prognostic factors predict functional outcomes.

Purpose: To identify pre- and perioperative predictors of functional outcomes after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair.

Study Design: Case-control study; Level of evidence, 3.

No Functional Difference Between Three and Six Weeks of Immobilization After Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff Repair: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Non-Inferiority Trial.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare clinical and radiologic results among patients with 3 versus 6 weeks of immobilization after arthroscopic rotator cuff (RC) repair in a prospective randomized controlled non-inferiority trial.

Methods: One hundred twenty patients were included after RC surgery for a small- to medium-sized tear of supraspinatus and upper infraspinatus tendons. Group A was immobilized in a simple sling for 3 weeks, and group B had a brace with a small abduction pillow with the arm in neutral position for 6 weeks.

Paralabral cysts of the shoulder treated with isolated labral repair: effect on pain and radiologic findings.

Background: Paralabral cysts emanating from posterosuperior labral tears may compress the suprascapular nerve and induce neuropathy. This study prospectively assessed patients with labral tears and symptomatic paralabral cysts treated with isolated labral repair. Pain relief, time to cyst resolution, reversibility of muscular edema, atrophy, fatty infiltration, and bone erosion were evaluated.

Targeted intervention of acute postoperative infection after rotator cuff repair results in good functional outcomes.

Purpose: The primary goal of this retrospective review of a prospective database was to document the functional results after acute postoperative deep infection following rotator cuff repair in a single orthopaedic unit over a period of 5 years. Secondary goals were to document the effect of infection on healing of the cuff repair and to describe its incidence, diagnostic challenges, pathogens and management.

Methods: Patients undergoing arthroscopic rotator cuff repair were prospectively registered from 2010 to 2014.

Angiopoietin-like 4 promotes angiogenesis in the tendon and is increased in cyclically loaded tendon fibroblasts.

Key Points: Angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPTL4) modulates tendon neovascularization. Cyclic loading stimulates the activity of transforming growth factor-β and hypoxia-inducible factor 1α and thereby increases the expression and release of ANGPTL4 from human tendon cells. Targeting ANGPTL4 and its regulatory pathways is a potential avenue for regulating tendon vascularization to improve tendon healing or adaptation.

Rotator cuff tear degeneration and cell apoptosis in smokers versus nonsmokers.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of smoking on supraspinatus tendon degeneration, including cellular alterations, proliferation, and apoptosis of tendon cells.

Methods: Supraspinatus tendon samples of 10 smokers and 15 nonsmokers with full-thickness tears were compared, focusing on the severity of tendon histopathology including apoptosis (programmed cell death), cellularity, and proliferation. Immunohistochemistry was used to assess the density of apoptotic cells and proliferation.

Lower muscle regenerative potential in full-thickness supraspinatus tears compared to partial-thickness tears.

Background And Purpose: Rotator cuff tears are associated with secondary rotator cuff muscle pathology, which is definitive for the prognosis of rotator cuff repair. There is little information regarding the early histological and immunohistochemical nature of these muscle changes in humans. We analyzed muscle biopsies from patients with supraspinatus tendon tears.

Sports and exercise-related tendinopathies: a review of selected topical issues by participants of the second International Scientific Tendinopathy Symposium (ISTS) Vancouver 2012.

In September 2010, the first International Scientific Tendinopathy Symposium (ISTS) was held in Umeå, Sweden, to establish a forum for original scientific and clinical insights in this growing field of clinical research and practice. The second ISTS was organised by the same group and held in Vancouver, Canada, in September 2012. This symposium was preceded by a round-table meeting in which the participants engaged in focused discussions, resulting in the following overview of tendinopathy clinical and research issues.

Increased levels of apoptosis and p53 in partial-thickness supraspinatus tendon tears.

Purpose: The role of apoptosis in the progression of rotator cuff tendinopathy remains poorly understood. In particular, the extent of apoptosis in the partially torn supraspinatus tendon has not been well examined.

Methods: Biopsies were obtained from nine partially torn supraspinatus tendons, from the matched intact subscapularis tendons, and from 10 reference subscapularis tendons.

Tenocyte apoptosis in the torn rotator cuff: a primary or secondary pathological event?

Little information exists on the contribution of apoptosis to pathological tendon changes in rotator cuff tendinopathy. The purpose of this study was to quantitate the rate of tenocyte apoptosis in torn supraspinatus tendons and in the matched intact subscapularis and to examine the potential relation between apoptotic index (AI) and tendon pathology. In addition, the authors examined tenocyte density, proliferation rate and p53 gene expression patterns to gain further insight into relevant pathological mechanisms in the torn suprapinatus.