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Clinical scores lower than expected with arthroscopic calcific tendinitis treatment
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BERLIN — Mid-term results of arthroscopic treatment of chronic calcifying shoulder tendinitis was fairly successful based solely on the standardized outcome measures, but investigators said they were a little disappointed in the quality of their 6-year results.
“We found the results were pretty good, but they were not as good as the contralateral shoulder,” Dennis Liem, MD, said at the 13th EFORT Congress 2012 here.
 Dennis Liem |
Liem and colleagues arthroscopically resected the calcified area in 70 shoulders (62 patients) with chronic calcific tendinitis, typically performing the procedure in the beach chair position and using a spinal needle to find the deposit during surgery. Several patients also underwent concomitant subacromial decompressions if there were radiological and intraoperative signs of impingement, which Liem, of Cologne, Germany, said helped with pain relief.
The patients were followed up for about 6 years postoperatively, with a mean of 4 years, and the results were compared to 24 healthy controls. The surgical patients had mean preoperative American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons scores of 38 points, which increased postoperatively to 81 points, but “that was worse than the contralateral shoulder,” Liem said.
He and his colleagues wrote in their abstract that postoperative mean Constant scores in the operated shoulders were also statistically significantly lower than in the healthy shoulders. A number of the shoulders subsequently presented with partial supraspinatus tendon tears, Liem said, which makes him wonder whether the team should leave these calcific deposits alone in the future.
Reference:
- Bielefeld R, Gosheger G, Schmidt C, et al. Chronic calcifying tendinitis of the shoulder – outcome 6 years after arthroscopic treatment. Paper #12-1747. Presented at the 13th EFORT Congress 2012. May 23-25. Berlin.
- Disclosures: Liem has no relevant financial disclosures.