Transosseous arthroscopic repair of partial articular-surface supraspinatus tendon tears

Partial articular-surface tendon avulsion (PASTA) lesions of the supraspinatus muscle represent a common cause for shoulder impairment and a preceding pathology for full-thickness tendon tears. Arthroscopic tendon repair is a possible surgical method of treatment. The purposes of cuff repair are anatomical tendon healing, prevention of tear size progression to completion and reduction of shoulder pain. In this report, we describe a transtendon arthroscopic technique of transosseous refixation of articular-side partial tears leaving the bursal layer of the supraspinatus tendon intact. A curved hollow needle is used to perform an all arthroscopic transosseous mattress suture. Thus, anatomical tendon-to-bone contact of the rotator cuff to the footprint is restored. Preliminary clinical results of 16 patients are convincing with significant pain relief and functional improvement.