On the faculty
Looking forward to the DePuy Synthes webinar, "Rotator Cuff Repair: Strategies & Techniques", at 7pm tomorrow evening. Some interesting clinical material has been prepared for discussion.
The panel
The panel comprises Kalman Piper of Sydney, Aman Sood of Adelaide and Fraser Taylor of the Gold Coast, all experienced orthopaedic surgeons. A lively discussion and some challenging questions are expected.
What rotator cuff repair addresses
The rotator cuff is a group of four tendons that surround the top of the arm bone, holding it centred in its shallow socket while rotating and lifting the arm. A tear pulls one or more of those tendons away from the bone, and the result is usually pain, often worse at night and when reaching overhead, with weakness in the same movements. A repair brings the tendon back to its attachment on the bone and holds it there with anchors and sutures while it heals, in most cases through small arthroscopic portals. The strategies and techniques discussed in a session of this kind concern how the tendon is mobilised, the pattern in which the sutures are laid, and what to do when the tendon will not reach its original attachment. Individual results vary.
Why these sessions are useful
Rotator cuff repair is an area where technique and judgement continue to develop, and where surgeons in different centres have reached different conclusions about the same problems. Putting several surgeons on a panel with the same cases in front of them tends to expose where the genuine uncertainty lies, which is more useful to the audience than a single consistent account would be.
Related information
- For patients, our rotator cuff tear page
- Our rotator cuff repair page
- Our post on rotator cuff repairs and retear
- Our rehabilitation page