[Functional comparison between arthroscopy and open surgery for rotator cuff injuries].

Background: Rotator cuff injuries result in impaired functionality of the shoulder. The difference in shoulder functionality in patients treated with arthroscopy who required open surgery is still unknown.

Objective: To determine if there is a difference in the functional evolution of the shoulder in patients who underwent surgery due to rotator cuff lesion which began with arthroscopy and ended in open surgery.

Material And Methods: A cohort, longitudinal, observational and comparative study was carried out. The Constant scale was applied to measure the functionality of the shoulder in patients who underwent surgery due to rotator cuff injury, prior to surgery, 3 and 6 months after it, from August 2021 to April 2022. Functionality between patients who started with arthroscopy and required surgery and with those who only underwent arthroscopy was compared.

Results: 30 patients were included. Shoulder functionality in the preoperative period had a mean of 42.2 ± 18 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 35.5-49.0), at 3 months of 48.18 ± 14 (95% CI 42.9-53.4) and at 6 months of 66.7 (95% CI 60.1-73.4), with a p = 0.001. The difference between the patients who required surgery was not significant (p = 0.3).

Conclusions: The functional evolution of the shoulder in patients who underwent surgery due to rotator cuff injury improves over time. The type of surgery does not influence the functional evolution.