A prospective randomized trial of functional outcomes following rotator cuff repair with and without acromioplasty: Minimum 2-year follow-up

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to report the clinical outcomes of patients undergoing an arthroscopic rotator cuff repair with and without acromioplasty at a minumul of two year follow-up. Methods: Patients undergoing arthroscopic repair of full thickness rotator cuff tears were randomized into acromioplasty or non-acromioplasty groups. Pre-operatively, validated outcome scores including the Simple Shoulder Test (SST), American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons score (ASES), UCLA score, and SF-12 health assessment were collected along with physical examination including range of motion and dynamometer strength testing. Pre-operative imaging was also reviewed to classify the acromial morphology, acromial angle, and lateral acromial angulation. Intra-operative data including tear size, repair configuration, and concomitant procedures were recorded. Postoperatively, data was collected at 6 weeks, 6 months, one year and at two years. Results are reported as mean ± standard deviation. Student’s t-test was utilized for statistical analysis with an alpha value of 0.05 set as significant. Results: Sixty-one patients completed surveys pre- and post-operatively at a mean 2.6 years. All patients had at least two year follow-up. Thirty-five patients with an average age of 58.4 years (range 44.4 - 74.7) were randomized to the acromioplasty group (22 male, 13 female) and 26 patients with a mean age of 58.2 years (range 42.9-77.0) to the non-acromioplasty group (17 male, 9 female). All outcome scores improved significantly (p < 0.05) in both groups from pre- to post-operatively at two year follow-up. In the acromioplasty group, improvements were observed for SST (5.6 ± 2.7 to 10.7 ± 1.7), ASES (53.5 ± 16.8 to 91.0 ± 13.5) and UCLA (10.7 ± 3.1 to 17.9 ± 30.0) scores. In the non-acromioplasty group, SST increased from 5.6 ± 3.1 to 10.5 ± 2.2; ASES from 58.9 ± 19.1 to 93.5 ± 10.8, and UCLA from 12.0 ± 2.8 to 17.4 ± 3.7. There was no statistical difference in clinical outcome when comparing the groups. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate no difference in clinical outcomes following rotator cuff repair with or without acromioplasty at two years postoperatively. These data suggest that acromioplasty may not need to be performed following rotator cuff repair, particularly in the setting of normal acromial architecture.