Rotator cuff tears do not heal well with time. They tend to either enlarge, or, at best, stabilize in size. In case of a severe rotator cuff injury, it may require a surgery. Depending on the size, location and type of your injury, common surgical options for repairing the rotator cuff include: Open, Mini-Open, and Arthroscopic.
Open Repair:
Open repair surgery is the most invasive treatment used for a complete muscle and tendon tear. In this surgery, the surgeon repairs the rotator cuff by looking directly at the torn tendon through an incision about 6-10 centimeters in length. It is one of the most preferred methods by surgeons to treat severe rotator cuff injuries because the rotator cuff tendons are easily seen by this method. However, the recovery can be longer and more painful.

Arthroscopic Surgery: This treatment requires only a small incision. Tiny instruments are inserted to repair the tendon. In this surgery, the surgeon looks at the tendon through a small camera to watch the repair on a television monitor. This is a more recent development in treatment of rotator cuff injuries. However, this method can be used to treat all types of tears.

Mini-Open Surgery: This surgery involves the use of an arthroscopy and a short incision to repair a rotator cuff tear. The surgeon uses arthroscopy to look into the shoulder joint in order to clean out any damaged tissue or bone spurs. The opening, which is about 3-4 cm, gets access to the tendon.

Mini-open surgery takes more time to recover as compared to open cuff repair. This surgery is a combination of open and arthroscopic surgery.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 12:12 pm and is filed under Anatomy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.