Purpose
In this study, we aimed to evaluate the medium-term clinical outcomes for patients
who underwent bridging reconstruction.
Methods
A retrospective chart review was conducted for all patients who underwent bridging
reconstruction between 2010 and 2018. Patients who were missing either pre- or postoperative
outcome scores were excluded. All included patients completed self-reported questionnaires
(Western Ontario Rotator Cuff [WORC] and Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand
[DASH]) pre- and postoperatively at 6 months, 1 year, and annually thereafter. All
scores were reported out of 100.
Results
Ninety-one patients initially met our inclusion criteria, and 33 were excluded owing
to lack of either pre- or postoperative outcome scores. Nine patients were lost to
follow-up; therefore, 49 patients were finally evaluated, including 30 males (61.2%)
and 19 females (38.8%) with an age of 59.6 ± 10.4 years (mean ± standard deviation)
and mean follow-up of 5.3 years (range 2 to 9). Both WORC and DASH scores significantly
improved from pre- to postoperatively (WORC: 69.6 ± 12.2 to 27.9 ± 23.7, P < .001; DASH: 51.5 ± 17.5 to 24.5 ± 23.0, P = .001). For WORC and DASH, 92% and 74% of patients, respectively, met the minimal
clinical importance difference.
Conclusion
Our results showed that patients’ clinical outcome scores significantly improved with
an average of 5-year follow-up, which demonstrates that bridging reconstruction is
a safe procedure with promising midterm clinical outcomes.
Level of Evidence
IV, retrospective case series
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 09, 2021
Accepted:
August 1,
2021
Received:
February 17,
2021
See commentary on page 699Footnotes
The authors report that they have no conflicts of interest in the authorship and publication of this article. Full ICMJE author disclosure forms are available for this article online, as supplementary material.
Identification
Copyright
© 2021 by the Arthroscopy Association of North America
