DIFFERENCE IN OUTCOME BETWEEN BURSAL AND ARTICULAR PARTIAL THICKNESS ROTATOR CUFF TEARS: ONE-YEAR FOLLOW-UP RESULTS

Abstract

The purpose of this historical prospective study was to compare the pre and post-operative Quality of Life (QOL) outcomes twelve months post-operatively in patients with partial thickness rotator cuff tears.

Data of ninety-three consecutive patients diagnosed with Partial Thickness Tear (PTT) who had undergone decompression, acromioplasty, or repair were used to compare the outcome between patients with Articular Tears (AT) and Bursal Tears (BT). The QOL outcome measures included one disease specific outcome measure, the Western Ontario Rotator Cuff Index (WORC) and two shoulder specific measures, the American Shoulder & Elbow Surgeons standardised shoulder assessment form (ASES) and the Constant-Murley score. A statistical paired t-test (pre vs. twelve months) and an independent t-test analysis (Articular vs. Bursal) were conducted to examine the impact of the tear site.

Forty-four Articular and forty-nine Bursal tears (forty-eight females and forty-five males) were included in the analysis. The mean age was 55.5 (SD: 13) and 53.3 (SD: 12) for the AT and BT groups respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in pre-operative QOL outcome scores. Both groups showed significant improvement in the above outcomes (p< 0.0001) one year following surgery. However, the AT group was significantly less improved than the BT group in the post-op ASES scores (p=0.04), Constant-Murley scores (p=0.006) and WORC (p=0.01).

The intent of this study was to compare the pre and post operative scores and rate of improvement in two groups of patients suffering from rotator cuff pathology at different sites. The results indicate that the quality of life improves significantly regardless of the tear site. The pattern of recovery however is different indicating that patients with Bursal tears show a higher degree of improvement in their functional measures. The findings suggest that two types of tears are different in their etiology and pathomechanics.