This is the 10-year follow-up of a multicenter level 1 RCT comparing single-row and double-row arthroscopic repair of full-thickness rotator cuff tears. The primary question: does double-row fixation give better disease-specific quality of life (WORC) at 10 years than single-row? 77 of the original 90 patients returned for long-term functional and ultrasound assessment.
When you counsel a patient on single- versus double-row repair, the honest answer at 10 years is that both work well and neither is clearly superior on overall function. The statistical win for double-row on WORC is real but too small to feel, so don't oversell it. The more useful nuance is durability: single-row function declined after 2 years on WORC and ASES, while double-row held its gains.
This fits the recurring theme in cuff surgery that better tendon-bone healing tracks with better long-term function, and double-row had a numerically higher healing rate at 2 years. Remember the timing of failure: most retears happen in the first 2 years, so a shoulder that is doing well at 2 years is unlikely to fail structurally later. Only about 10% of additional tears appeared out to 10 years.
Late revision was rare in both groups, so a well-healed repair of either construct is a durable operation.
This is the 10-year follow-up of a multicenter level 1 RCT comparing single-row and double-row arthroscopic repair of full-thickness rotator cuff tears. The primary question: does double-row fixation give better disease-specific quality of life (WORC) at 10 years than single-row? 77 of the original 90 patients returned for long-term functional and ultrasound assessment.
When you counsel a patient on single- versus double-row repair, the honest answer at 10 years is that both work well and neither is clearly superior on overall function. The statistical win for double-row on WORC is real but too small to feel, so don't oversell it. The more useful nuance is durability: single-row function declined after 2 years on WORC and ASES, while double-row held its gains.
This fits the recurring theme in cuff surgery that better tendon-bone healing tracks with better long-term function, and double-row had a numerically higher healing rate at 2 years. Remember the timing of failure: most retears happen in the first 2 years, so a shoulder that is doing well at 2 years is unlikely to fail structurally later. Only about 10% of additional tears appeared out to 10 years.
Late revision was rare in both groups, so a well-healed repair of either construct is a durable operation.