Editorial Commentary: Arthroscopic Subscapularis Repair: Bridging Successful Tendon Healing and Improved Patient Outcomes

Abstract

Open repair has been regarded as the gold standard for the treatment of subscapularis tendon tears. However, recent studies on newer arthroscopic techniques and published results of arthroscopic repair have shown promising results. As such, there exists a growing interest in understanding the best fixation technique to obtain successful functional and patient-reported clinical outcomes. While the literature shows superior outcomes after double-row repair for posterosuperior rotator cuff tears compared with single-row repair, the evidence is inconclusive for subscapularis tears. We believe that arthroscopic double-row transosseous equivalent repair of full-thickness subscapularis tears leads to superior clinical outcomes with higher healing rates and will become the standard of care in the future.

Arthroscopic Augmentation of Subscapularis Revision Repair Using a Bioinductive Collagen Implant

“… 5 There has been relatively less focus on assessing the outcomes of subscapularis repairs, with reported retear rates across the few available articles ranging from 5% to 13%. 6 …”

Arthroscopic Knotless Repair of Complete Full-Thickness Tears of the Subscapularis Tendon Through a Single Portal

“…2 With advances in techniques, arthroscopic repair of the subscapularis tendon has become increasingly popular compared with the previous open repair. 3 To date, there are a variety of techniques that have been described for arthroscopic subscapularis tendon repairs, and it is still not known which of the various repair techniques provide superior strength. 4 However, most techniques routinely require several working portals and the procedure often is technically challenging and time-consuming, due to suture management and when knot-tying is required.…”