Rotator Cuff Tears: Repair of a Partial-Thickness Tear Animation

Rotator Cuff Tears: Repair of a Partial-Thickness Tear Animation

This animation demonstrates a repair of a partial thickness rotator cuff tear. A partial thickness rotator cuff tear is a tear that does not go all the way through the tendon's fibers. In this case, the surgery will reattach the fibers on the underside of the tendon that have torn off from the bone.

Here, we see a right shoulder with the front of the shoulder facing the screen. A needle is first used to locate the position where the first anchor will be placed. A guide is positioned over the needle and used to gradually widen a hole in the tendon. Next, an instrument called a bone punch is inserted through the guide and used to make a socket into the upper arm bone.

A hard body anchor is then inserted through the tendon and into the upper arm bone. This anchor is already threaded with sutures. The same steps are repeated for a second anchor. A plastic tube called a cannula is then inserted into the shoulder. The blue suture from one anchor is retrieved along with the black and white suture from the other anchor and pulled out of the shoulder.

The blue suture is threaded through the loop of the black and white suture, and tension is applied to the other end of the black and white suture to pass the blue suture into the anchor. This part of the blue suture is then pulled down toward the tendon. The same steps are completed for the second anchor. Both blue sutures are pulled, forming a bridge across the two anchors that pulls the tendon down toward the bone.

This holds the tendon in place until it heals to the bone. The ends of the blue sutures are then threaded through another anchor, which is inserted into the upper arm bone to further hold down the tendon and secure the repair in place. The partial thickness rotator cuff repair is now complete.