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Stitch positioning influences the suture hold in supraspinatus tendon repair

  • Shoulder
  • Published:
Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy Aims and scope

Abstract

Purpose

This study was designed to compare the pull-out strength of simple suture stitches in human supraspinatus tendons with respect to the position of the rotator cable.

Methods

Fifty-four tests were performed on 6 intact, human supraspinatus tendons, to assess the cutout strength of a simple suture configuration in different positions; medial to, lateral to, or within the rotator cable. Tendon thickness was measured and correlated for each positioned suture.

Results

Suture positioning lateral to or in the rotator cable showed significantly lower suture retention properties compared with positioning the suture medial to the cable (p = 0.002). In all tested specimens, the central stitch in the row medial to the rotator cable provided the optimum retention properties (mean: 191 N; SD: ± 44; p < 0.01), even after correcting for tendon thickness.

Conclusion

This study shows that it is desirable to identify the rotator cable and to pass sutures just medial to it, close to the middle of the tendon, which provided highest possible suture retention properties.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no potential conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Orthopaedic Department, Balgrist Hospital, University of Zurich, Forchstrasse 340, 8008, Zurich, Switzerland

    Karl Wieser, Stefan Rahm, Mazda Farshad, Eugene T. Ek, Christian Gerber & Dominik C. Meyer

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  1. Karl Wieser
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  2. Stefan Rahm
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  3. Mazda Farshad
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  4. Eugene T. Ek
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  5. Christian Gerber
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  6. Dominik C. Meyer
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Correspondence to Karl Wieser.

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Wieser, K., Rahm, S., Farshad, M. et al. Stitch positioning influences the suture hold in supraspinatus tendon repair. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 21, 1587–1592 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-012-2103-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-012-2103-6

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