Does the Presence of Chondral Lesions Negatively Affect Patient-Determined Outcomes After Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff Repair?

BACKGROUND: There are limited data available to guide patients to their prognosis when glenohumeral chondral lesions are found during arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. HYPOTHESIS: The primary hypothesis was that patients with glenohumeral chondral lesions will have inferior outcomes after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair compared with patients without chondral lesions. The secondary hypothesis was that patients with concomitant chondral lesions will have more severe preoperative symptoms compared with those without chondral lesions. STUDY DESIGN: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed of patients who underwent arthroscopic rotator cuff repair between 2008 and 2012. We examined the effects of chondral lesions on patient-determined outcomes, which included the Western Ontario Rotator Cuff Index (WORC), American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) score, Simple Shoulder Test (SST), Single Assessment Numeric Evaluation (SANE), and the Shoulder Activity Level (SAL). Shoulders without chondral lesions were compared with shoulders with chondral lesions to determine whether differences in severity of preoperative symptoms as well as postoperative improvements were statistically significant. RESULTS: A total of 281 shoulders were included from 273 patients, with a mean follow-up of 3.7 years. In total, 90 shoulders (32%) had concomitant chondral lesions in the glenohumeral joint. The presence and degree of chondral damage were not associated with the severity of preoperative symptoms or the amount of improvement after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair, as determined by patient outcome scores. Shoulders with bipolar chondral lesions had less postoperative improvement in their outcome scores compared with shoulders with unipolar lesions, with significant differences found in the SST (P = .0005), the SANE (P = .005), and the SAL (P = .04). Regardless of this, the majority of shoulders with bipolar chondral lesions (80%-92%) had postoperative improvements that superseded the minimal clinically important difference of the ASES, WORC, and SANE. CONCLUSION: At a mean 3.7-year follow-up, the presence of chondral damage did not appear to negatively affect the improvement in patient-determined outcomes after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. However, improvement in outcomes was negatively affected by the presence of bipolar chondral lesions.