The aim of this study was to investigate genetic influences on the development and progression of tears of the rotator cuff. From a group of siblings of patients with a tear of the rotator cuff and of controls studied five years earlier, we determined the prevalence of tears of the rotator cuff with and without associated symptoms using ultrasound and the Oxford Shoulder Score. In the five year...

Subscapularis tendon tears are a well-established cause of shoulder pain. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the associated shoulder pathology in patients with full-thickness subscapularis tendon tears using magnetic resonance imaging. Forty-seven magnetic resonance imaging studies taken between 2008 and 2009 with a diagnosis of full-thickness subscapularis tendon tears were rev...

Rotator cuff tears are a ubiquitous cause of shoulder pain and disability. Full thickness rotator cuff tears are present in 19-21% of the general population, and their prevalence increases with age. The incidence of this problem is exacerbated by the ever advancing age of our patient population. Thankfully, with advances in arthroscopic rotator cuff repair, this has become a treatable problem w...

The combination of an irreparable tear of the rotator cuff and destructive arthritis of the shoulder joint may cause severe pain, disability and loss of independence in the aged. Standard anatomical shoulder replacements depend on a functioning rotator cuff, and hence may fail in the presence of tears in the cuff. Many designs of non-anatomical constrained or semi-constrained prostheses have be...

From a retrospective, cohort study of 205 patients diagnosed with full-thickness tears of the rotator cuff, we determined, using ultrasound, the prevalence of such tears in their 129 siblings. Using 150 spouses as controls, the relative risk of full-thickness tears in siblings versus controls was 2.42 (95% CI 1.77 to 3.31). The relative risk of symptomatic full-thickness tears in siblings versu...

Lipoma arborescens, a rare benign intra-articular lesion, is characterized by lipomatous proliferation of the synovium in which the subsynovial tissue is replaced by mature adipocytes. Subdeltoid bursa is a rare location for lipoma arborescens, and only a few cases have been reported in the literature. This article reports 2 cases of subdeltoid lipoma arborescens combined with rotator cuff tear...

To better understand the natural history of rotator cuff disease and its treatment, it is crucial to find a reliable method of classifying or describing rotator cuff tears. We can then use this classification to identify appropriate treatments for each type of tear that lead to the best outcomes. There are many rotator cuff classification systems in use today, making it difficult to compare res...

BACKGROUND This study examines the clinical and electromyographic results of latissimus dorsi transfer (LDT) using a combined open and arthroscopic technique for the treatment of symptomatic irreparable posterosuperior rotator cuff tears. METHODS Between 2006 and 2009, LDT was performed in 14 patients (mean age 59 years) with massive and symptomatic irreparable posterosuperior rotator cuff te...