A rotator cuff repair reattaches a torn tendon to bone with sutures. When healing is unlikely, surgeons add extra tissue over the repair site for structural support and to boost the body's ability to heal, according to clinical studies.
What exactly is augmentation rotator cuff repair and how does that compare to a standard rotator cuff repair? Well, in a standard rotator cuff repair, what we do is we bring the tendon back down to the bone using anchors which have sutures. Those are typically brought out in 1 to 2 rows of a, of a repair that is called a single or double row repair. And that works in majority cases, but not all rotator cuff tears heal. So when we believe that the chance of healing is lower, we add augmentation. There's a lot of different approaches, but typically that involves adding adding tissue to the rotator cuff. So we'll do our rotator cuff repair and then add tissue, typically on the top of the repair afterwards, to provide a little bit of extra structure, but primarily biology. And studies show that that can improve the chances of the rotator cuff healing.
