evaluation of functional results from shoulders after arthroscopic repair of complete rotator cuff tears associated with traumatic anterior dislocation

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical outcome of arthroscopic rotator cuff fixation and, when present, simultaneous repair of the Bankart lesion caused by traumatic dislocation; and to assess whether the size of the rotator cuff injury caused by traumatic dislocation has any influence on the postoperative clinical outcomes. METHODS: Thirty-three patients with traumatic shoulder dislocation and complete rotator cuff injury, with at least two years of follow up, were retrospectively evaluated. For analysis purposes, the patients were divided into groups: presence of fixed Bankart lesion or absence of this lesion, and rotator cuff lesions smaller than 3.0 cm (group A) or greater than or equal to 3.0 cm (group B). All the patients underwent arthroscopic repair of the lesions and were evaluated postoperatively by means of the UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles) score and strength measurements. RESULTS: The group with Bankart lesion repair had a postoperative UCLA score of 33.96, while the score of the group without Bankart lesion was 33.7, without statistical significance (p = 0.743). Group A had a postoperative UCLA score of 34.35 and group B, 33.15, without statistical significance (p = 0.416). CONCLUSION: The functional outcomes of the patients who only presented complete rotator cuff tearing after traumatic shoulder dislocation, which underwent arthroscopic repair, were similar to the outcomes of those who presented an associated with a Bankart lesion that was corrected simultaneously with the rotator cuff injury. The extent of the original rotator cuff injury did not alter the functional results in the postoperative evaluation.