Comparison of repair techniques in small and medium-sized rotator cuff tears in cadaveric sheep shoulders.

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare new knotless single-row and double-row suture anchor techniques with traditional transosseous suture techniques for different sized rotator cuff tears in an animal model.

Methods: The study included 56 cadaveric sheep shoulders. Supraspinatus cuff tears of 1 cm repaired with new knotless single-row suture anchor technique and supraspinatus and infraspinatus rotator cuff tears of 3 cm repaired with double-row suture anchor technique were compared to traditional transosseous suture techniques and control groups. The repaired tendons were loaded with 5 mm/min static velocity with 2.5 kgN load cell in Instron 8874 machine until the repair failure.

Results: The 1 cm transosseous group was statistically superior to 1 cm control group (p=0.021, p<0.05) and the 3 cm SpeedBridge group was statistically superior to the 1 cm SpeedFix group (p=0.012, p<0.05). The differences between the other groups were not statistically significant.

Conclusion: No significant difference was found between the new knotless suture anchor techniques and traditional transosseous suture techniques.