Bone marrow stimulation may not affect healing rates for arthroscopic rotator cuff repair
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Key takeaways:
- Bone marrow stimulation did not improve healing for patients who underwent arthroscopic rotator cuff repair.
- Bone marrow stimulation also did not improve postoperative outcome scores or range of motion.
According to published results, patients who underwent arthroscopic rotator cuff repair with vs. without bone marrow stimulation had similar rates of healing, postoperative clinical outcome scores and range of motion.
Researchers performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of five studies which reported on healing rates and patient-reported outcomes from 499 arthroscopic rotator cuff repair surgeries with vs. without bone marrow stimulation (BMS) augmentation.
Overall, healing rates were similar on radiographs between patients who received BMS (83.3%) vs. those who did not (79%) at a mean follow-up of 6 to 29 months. Researchers deemed the difference in healing rates was not statistically significant (OR = 1.58).
Researchers also noted no significant differences in postoperative Constant scores (mean difference [MD], 1.41) and American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons scores (MD, 0.77) between the groups. After analysis of two studies that reported on range of motion, researchers found no significant differences between the groups for forward flexion (MD, 2.45°) and external rotation (MD, 0.81°) at final follow-up.
“The utilization of BMS in conjunction with arthroscopic rotator cuff repair can result in longer operative times, more susceptibility to greater tuberosity fractures and an increased risk of anchor pullout in patients with osteoporosis,” the researchers wrote. “We do not endorse the use of BMS for the purpose of augmenting rotator cuff repair and suggest that performing decortication of the rotator cuff footprint using an arthroscopic shaver or high-speed bur is sufficient.”
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