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Published in: Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy 1/2018

01-01-2018 | Shoulder

Tenodesis is not superior to tenotomy in the treatment of the long head of biceps tendon lesions

Authors: Roberto Castricini, Filippo Familiari, Marco De Gori, Daria Anna Riccelli, Massimo De Benedetto, Nicola Orlando, Olimpio Galasso, Giorgio Gasparini

Published in: Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy | Issue 1/2018

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Abstract

Purpose

To compare the effectiveness of tenodesis and tenotomy in the treatment of long head of the biceps tendon (LHBT) lesions. The null hypothesis was that there is no difference in functional scores between the tenotomy and tenodesis groups.

Methods

A total of 69 patients with a combined supraspinatus tear and LHBT lesion aged over 40 years entered this prospective comparative study and were randomly assigned to the arthroscopic LHB tenotomy or tenodesis group. Fifty-five patients (31 in the tenotomy group and 24 in the tenodesis group) were available for the 6- and 24-month post-operative evaluations.

Results

There were no statistically significant differences in post-operative Constant and Murley score, quality of life, pain, and strengths between groups. Higher rates of Popeye’s sign were noted 6 and 24 months post-operatively in the tenotomy group compared to tenodesis.

Conclusions

Although tenotomy is affected by a higher incidence of cosmetic deformity, there is no superiority of arthroscopic tenodesis over tenotomy in the treatment of LHBT lesion as a concomitant procedure to an arthroscopic repair of the supraspinatus tendon in terms of functional outcomes, quality of life, pain, and strength measured 6 and 24 months post-operatively.

Level of evidence

I.
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Metadata
Title
Tenodesis is not superior to tenotomy in the treatment of the long head of biceps tendon lesions
Authors
Roberto Castricini
Filippo Familiari
Marco De Gori
Daria Anna Riccelli
Massimo De Benedetto
Nicola Orlando
Olimpio Galasso
Giorgio Gasparini
Publication date
01-01-2018
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy / Issue 1/2018
Print ISSN: 0942-2056
Electronic ISSN: 1433-7347
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-017-4609-4

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