ObjectiveTo evaluate the prevalence of rotator cuff tears and describe the profile of reoperated patients, causes of repeated tendon tears, tear evolution and range of times between surgical procedures.MethodThis was a cross-sectional study involving 604 surgical procedures performed at two regional referral hospitals between January 2006 and December 2012. After approval by the ethics committee, data describing the patients’ epidemiological profile were gathered at a single time, using Cofield's classification to measure the extent of the tears, all of which underwent arthroscopic surgery. The data were entered into Epi Info 3.5.3 and were analyzed using SPSS version 18.0.ResultsAmong the 604 surgical procedures, females were affected in more cases (351; 58.1%). When the dominant limb was the right limb, it was affected in 90% of the cases (p < 0.05). The supraspinatus tendon was affected in 574 cases (95%) and the tears were of medium size in 300 cases (49.7%). Eighteen reoperations were performed (2.98%) and the upper right limb was the most affected (66.6%). The cause was non-traumatic in 12 patients. The repeated tears were mostly smaller (44%), and the length of time between the two surgical procedures ranged from 6 to 298 weeks.ConclusionFemale gender, smaller extent in the second procedure and non-traumatic cause were found in most of the cases analyzed.

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