Introduction:

Increasing life expectancies in population increase the number of patients with rotator cuff tears. The purpose of this study was to evaluate clinical outcomes after arthroscopy rotator cuff repair in patients over 60 years old. We hypothesized that shoulder arthroscopy would allow significant improvements in clinical outcomes without serious complications.

Material and methods:

We screened from our shoulder arthroscopy database patients older than 60 years old, with rotator cuff tear, and minimun 2-year follow-up. The patients were evaluated using Constant scores for clinical outcomes and Quick-DASH score for quality of life.

Results:

In total, 42 patients were enrolled in the study with a mean age of 66.7 years old (range 60 to 83). A double-row repair was indicated in 25 patients (59.5%), and single-row repair in 17 patients (40.5%). As associated injuries we found proximal biceps pathology in 31 patients (48.4%), subscapularis tears in 24 patients (37.5%), and SLAP tears in 3 patients (7.1%). Mean follow-up was 32.4 months. Constant scores improved from 48.3 preoperatively to 87.2 at final follow-up. Quick-DASH decreased from 52.5 preoperatively to 11.0 at final follow-up.

Discussion:

Arthroscopy cuff repair in patients older than 60 years old provides satisfactory clinical outcomes without morbidity at medium follow-up.