Evaluate the Results at Minimum 2-Years of Treating Rotator Cuff Tear by Arthroscopic Surgery

Background: Rotator cuff tear (RCT) is a common injury of the shoulder, especially middle-aged people. Nonoperative treatment, cortisone injections are only effective at an early stage. Open surgery causes postoperative atrophy of the deltoid muscle, so results are limited. Arthroscopic rotator cuff repair surgery has been performed in Vietnam for about ten years, with many advantages such as the ability to accurately assess the lesions and less invasive procedure. In order to have a clearer view, we performed a mid-term assessment of the effectiveness of this surgery.

Aim: Evaluate results over 2 years of patients with rotator cuff tears treated with arthroscopic surgery and their quality of life.

Method: A group of 30 patients were diagnosed with RCT and surgery by arthroscopy to treat at Hanoi Medical University Hospital and Saint Paul Hospital between Jun 2015 and April 2017. The results of the surgeries were assessed by the degree of pain, muscle power, motion of the shoulder joint according to UCLA shoulder score. Evaluate the quality of life through the Rotator Cuff-Quality of Life (RC-QoL) index.

Results: The average age was 60.7 years. Female / male ratio was 1.3. Thirty-six months ± 6.41 was the average follow-up time (min 27 - max 50 months). The shoulder function is recorded according to UCLA has an average score of 30.9, therein good and excellent result were 90 %. The mean RC-QoL index was 91.5%.

Conclusion: Treatment of RCT by arthroscopic surgery that has been evaluated for a minimum of 2 years follow-up showed good results and high quality of patient's life.