The Effect of Rotator Cuff Tear Size on Rotator Cuff Repairs

The repair of symptomatic rotator cuff tears (RCT) is an accepted form of treatment. Several reports have noted that the repair of larger rotator cuff tears frequently lead to poorer results. With follow up inspection of repaired large rotator cuff tears, a large percentage of these repairs may not be intact. The difficulty with historical studies that correlate rotator cuff tear size to overall outcome, is the lack of uniformity in classifying the size of the rotator cuff tear.