COMPARISON OF TENSILE STRENGTH OF ARTHROSCOPIC SINGLE AND DOUBLE ROW ROTATOR CUFF REPAIRS

Purpose: Many different rotator cuff repairs have been advocated in previous publications without experimental evidence. Our aim was to mechanically test the static tensile properties and cyclical loading to failure of a single row lateral anchor repair and a double row medial and lateral anchor repair.Method: Fresh frozen cadaveric shoulders were mounted on a rig and a mini-open deltoid split used to visualise the supraspinatus. A standardised full thickness incision of 2 cms was made with a scalpel across the supraspinatus tendon. After the deltoid was repaired and specimens randomised, an arthroscopic rotator cuff repair was performed by the two senior authors in which the medial border of the tear was apposed to the lateral border using either a double or single row technique with a ‘Twinfix AB’ suture anchor. Once the repair had been performed, the gross specimens were dissected down to the rotator cuff musculature and the repair inspected. Those with associated cuff pathology were excluded from the ...