Partial and complete repairs of massive rotator cuff tears maintain similar long-term improvements in clinical scores

Purpose The authors have previously published early outcomes of arthroscopic repairs of 86 massive rotator cuff tears (mRCTs) and aimed to determine whether their clinical scores are maintained or deteriorate after 5 more years. Methods Of the initial series of 86 shoulders, 2 had deceased, 16 lost to follow-up and 4 reoperated, leaving 64 for assessment. The repairs were complete in 44 and partial in 20, and 17 shoulders had pseudoparalysis. Preoperative assessment included absolute Constant score, shoulder strength, tear pattern, tendon retraction, and fatty infiltration. Patients were evaluated at 8.1 ± 0.6 years (range 7.1–9.3) using absolute and age-/sex-adjusted Constant score, subjective shoulder value (SSV), and simple shoulder test (SST). Results Absolute Constant score was 80.0 ± 11.7 at first follow-up (at 2–5 years) but diminished to 76.7 ± 10.2 at second follow-up (at 7–10 years) ( p