Rotator Cuff Tears: Single-Row Rotator Cuff Repair of a Small Tear Animation

Rotator Cuff Tears: Single-Row Rotator Cuff Repair of a Small Tear Animation

This animation demonstrates the repair of a small rotator cuff tear. In this case, only a small portion of the rotator cuff tendon has torn away from the bone. Here we see a right shoulder with the front of the shoulder facing the screen.

First, a guide is placed on the outside of the upper arm bone, and an anchor is gently malleted in place. This anchor is already loaded with 2 repair sutures and 1 shuttling suture. The anchor is slightly tugged to set its position.

Next, the black and white repair suture is passed through the rotator cuff tendon. In another spot of the torn tendon, the blue and white repair suture is passed in the same fashion.

A tool is used to retrieve the 2 repair sutures and the shuttling suture, which are pulled outside of the shoulder through a plastic tube called a cannula. The shuttling suture has a loop at the end, and the repair sutures are placed into the loop.

The shuttling suture is pulled to pass the repair sutures through the knotless mechanism in the anchor. By pulling on each suture one at a time, the repair sutures are tightened to secure the tendon in place. This completes the small tear rotator cuff repair.