Revision rotator cuff repair is complex with higher failure rates than initial repair, but successful healing significantly improves patient outcomes.
Supports targeting healing in revision cuff repair to improve outcomes; leaves open optimal techniques.
Revision rotator cuff repair is a complex and increasingly common problem. Failure of initial tendon healing is caused by a variety of factors, most prominently biological, but technical factors of the primary surgery and post-operative trauma also contribute. Identifying a failed rotator cuff surgery is based on a combination of imaging and physical exam. However, the decision to proceed with a revision rotator cuff repair is more complex and based on predicted success of the revision procedure as well as an extensive discussion with the patient that revision cuff surgery is more complex procedure with higher failure rates than the initial cuff repair. Despite the complexity of a revision surgery, patient outcomes are significantly improved if cuff healing can be obtained. In this paper we discuss our methods for identifying patients who are good candidates for revision rotator cuff surgery as well as discussing in detail surgical “tips and tricks” for getting the cuff back down to the footprint and getting it to heal in a revision setting.
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Cooper et al. (2016) studied this question.
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