Patient-Reported Outcomes After Isolated and Combined Arthroscopic Subscapularis Tendon Repairs

Purpose To analyze minimum 2-year postoperative patient-reported outcomes of a large group of patients after arthroscopic subscapularis (SSc) repair with respect to surgical findings and concurrent procedures. Methods Patients who underwent arthroscopic SSc repair from January 2010 to April 2016 completed the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System for Upper Extremity (PROMIS-UE) test and postoperative visual analog scale pain score. Medical records were reviewed for the preoperative visual analog scale pain score and surgical findings. SSc tears were considered partial or complete. Concomitant pathology and treatment of the supraspinatus (SS), infraspinatus (IS), and biceps tendon were recorded. We compared preoperative variables and outcomes between isolated partial SSc repair, partial SSc with SS and/or IS repair, isolated complete SSc repair, and complete SSc with SS and/or IS repair. Results One hundred forty-five shoulders were included with an average age of 62.0 ± 9.8 years and average follow-up period of 52.2 ± 19.5 months. A significant reduction in the pain score occurred, from 4.8 (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.4-5.2) to 0.9 (95% CI, 0.6-1.1) ( P P  = .609). Biceps tendon pathology was significantly more common in complete SSc tears than partial SSc tears ( P P  = .110) or the PROMIS-UE score based on biceps intervention ( P  = .471). Conclusions We observed significant improvements in pain and patient-reported outcomes in line with population means for a large group of patients after SSc tendon repair. Importantly, outcomes were similar despite the size of SSc tear or concurrent SS and/or IS repairs. Biceps pathology was common, and neither its presence nor its treatment influenced postoperative patient outcomes. Level of Evidence Level IV, retrospective case series.