Outcomes After Combined Remnant Preservation and Bone Marrow Stimulation for Acute Rotator Cuff Tears

BACKGROUND: Both remnant preservation (RP) and bone marrow stimulation (BMS) enhance the healing potential of the repaired rotator cuff by improving the biological milieu of the tendon-bone interface. PURPOSE: To evaluate the clinical and imaging outcomes of arthroscopic rotator cuff repair using a combined RP-BMS technique in patients with acute rotator cuff tears. STUDY DESIGN: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. METHODS: Between January 2016 and June 2019, a total of 56 patients were diagnosed with acute rotator cuff tears; 29 patients underwent conventional repair (group 1), and 27 patients underwent RP-BMS (group 2). At a minimum follow-up period of 2 years, the authors compared clinical outcomes with the University of California–Los Angeles; Constant; American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons; and pain visual analog scale scores as well as shoulder range of motion. Tendon integrity and retear were assessed on magnetic resonance imaging according to the Sugaya classification (intact, grades 1-3; retear, grades 4-5). Between-group comparisons were conducted using the Student t test or Mann-Whitney U test for continuous variables and the Pearson chi-square test or Fisher exact test for categorical variables. RESULTS: In both groups, patients had significant preoperative to postoperative improvement on all clinical outcome measures (P = .001 for all). Shoulder abduction in group 2 was significantly greater compared with group 1 at the postoperative 3-month (107.37° ± 8.32° vs 95.44° ± 8.78°; P = .001), 6-month (155.25° ± 10.02° vs 144.72° ± 9.28°; P = .001), and final (165.15° ± 9.17° vs 158.31° ± 8.01°; P = .021) follow-ups. At the final follow-up, significantly more patients in group 2 had intact tendons (Sugaya grades 1-3) compared with group 1 (P = .015), and the tendon retear rate was lower in group 2 (1/27; 3.70%) than in group 1 (7/29; 24.14%) (P = .033). CONCLUSION: Both surgical techniques led to satisfactory clinical outcomes, but shoulder abduction was greater after the RP-BMS technique compared with conventional repair. RP-BMS may be an alternative surgical technique to improve tendon integrity and retear rates after the repair of acute rotator cuff tears.