History of rotator cuff surgery.

Purpose: Rotator cuff surgery is a rapidly evolving branch in orthopaedics, which has raised from a minor niche to a fully recognized subspecialty. This article summarizes its history, examining the development of its key principles and the technical advancements.

Methods: Literature was thoroughly searched, and few senior surgeons were interviewed in order to identify the significant steps in the evolution of rotator cuff surgery.

Post-operative rehabilitation after surgical repair of the rotator cuff.

Today advances in techniques and materials for rotator cuff surgery allow the repair of a large variety of types or extensions of cuff lesions in patients from a wide range of age groups who have different kinds of jobs and participate in different kinds of sports, and who have widely different expectations in terms of recovery of functions and pain relief. A large number of factors must be taken into account before implementing a rehabilitation protocol after rotator cuff surgery. These mainly include the technique (materials and procedure) used by the surgeon.

Incidence of risk in shoulder surgery : medical-legal repercussions.

It is generally recognised that any medical-surgical activity entails the risk of failure, placing the physician at risk of malpractice claims. In order to protect both the physician and the patient, it is important to identify the risk factors relating to the various pathological situations and assess both the incidence and significance of such risks. Hence, a "Potential Failure Rating" could be devised already during the preliminary stages for every type of medical process.