HSS Journal ®

, Volume 14, Issue 1, pp 34–40 | Cite as

Long Head of Biceps Tendon Management: a Survey of the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons

  • Keith T. Corpus
  • Grant H. Garcia
  • Joseph N. Liu
  • David M. Dines
  • Stephen J. O’Brien
  • Joshua S. Dines
  • Samuel A. Taylor
Original Article
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:
  • 185 Downloads

Abstract

Background:

Management of symptomatic long head of biceps tendon (LHBT) pathology remains a source of debate.

Questions/Purposes:

The purpose of this study was to identify consensus trends for the treatment of LHBT pathology among specialists.

Methods:

A survey was distributed to members of the American Shoulder and Elbow Society (ASES), consisting of three sections—demographics, case scenarios, and general LHBT pathology management. Cases presented common clinical scenarios, and surgeons reported their management preferences. Consensus responses were defined as > 50% of participants giving a single response.

Results:

One hundred and forty-two of 417 (34%) surgeons completed surveys. Forty-seven percent of questions reached a consensus answer. Biceps tenodesis was the overwhelmingly preferred technique in cases demonstrating LHBT pathology, as compared to tenotomy. No consensus, however, was reached regarding a specific surgical technique for biceps tenodesis. The two most popular techniques were arthroscopic tenodesis to bone and open subpectoral biceps tenodesis. Fellowship-trained arthroscopic surgeons and surgeons with a largely arthroscopic practice were more likely to perform tenodesis arthroscopically.

Conclusion:

ASES members favored biceps tenodesis over tenotomy for surgical management of LHBT pathology, without consensus regarding a specific surgical technique.

Keywords

long head biceps tendon biceps tenodesis biceps tenotomy expert opinion 
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Notes

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Conflict of Interest

Keith T. Corpus, MD; Grant H. Garcia, MD; Joseph N. Liu, MD; Stephen J. O’Brien, MD, MBA; Samuel A. Taylor, MD, have declared that they have no conflict of interest. David M. Dines, MD, reports personal fees from Zimmer Biomet, outside the work. Joshua S. Dines, MD, reports personal fees from Arthrex, Trice Medical, Conmed, and Linvatec; other from American Journal of Orthopedics and Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery; outside the work.

Human/Animal Rights

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008 (5).

Informed Consent

N/A

Required Author Forms

Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the online version of this article.

Supplementary material

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Copyright information

© Hospital for Special Surgery 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  • Keith T. Corpus
    • 1
  • Grant H. Garcia
    • 2
  • Joseph N. Liu
    • 2
  • David M. Dines
    • 1
  • Stephen J. O’Brien
    • 1
  • Joshua S. Dines
    • 1
  • Samuel A. Taylor
    • 1
  1. 1.Sports Medicine and Shoulder ServiceHospital for Special SurgeryNew YorkUSA
  2. 2.Rush University Sports and Shoulder DepartmentChicagoUSA

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