Gluteus Medius Tears: Repair of a Partial-Thickness Gluteus Medius Tear With Anchors Animation

Gluteus Medius Tears: Repair of a Partial-Thickness Gluteus Medius Tear With Anchors Animation

This animation demonstrates a repair of a partial-thickness gluteus medius tear with anchors. Here, we see the side of a left hip, showing the gluteus medius muscle connecting the pelvis to the top of the femur, or thigh bone, by the gluteus medius tendon. This procedure is minimally invasive and performed endoscopically through tiny incisions. First, 2 plastic tubes, called cannulas, are inserted to pass surgical instruments in and out of the hip. A drill guide is inserted into one of the cannulas and the inner portion of the drill guide is removed.

A drill is inserted into the guide and used to drill a hole through the gluteus medius tendon into the thigh bone. Then, a soft-body anchor is inserted into the drilled hole and the anchor inserter is removed. This anchor is already threaded with sutures. The same steps are repeated to insert another anchor. Once both anchors are in place, the blue suture from each anchor is pulled out of the opposite cannula to crisscross the sutures.

Outside the hip, the blue suture from 1 anchor is threaded through the black and white looped suture from the other anchor. The end of the black and white suture is pulled to pass the blue suture into the anchor. The same steps are repeated for the other sutures and anchor. This will create a suture bridge across the 2 anchors that is pulled down to compress the gluteus medius tendon down to the bone. A tensioning instrument tightens each suture further and the free end is cut off.

If needed, the same steps can be repeated to create another suture bridge with 2 more anchors. The repair of the partial-thickness gluteus medius tear is now complete.