30
April
2018
|
07:00 AM
America/New_York

New Data On Rotator Cuff Surgery Complication Rates

Orthopedics This Week highlighted a recent study by HSS orthopedic surgery resident William W. Schairer, MD, who investigated complications for older adults after rotator cuff repair surgery.

Dr. Schairer told OTW, "rotator cuff tears are common in older patients and can cause pain and weakness that limit activity. As our techniques for repair get better and older patients are increasingly looking to maintain active lifestyles, the number of procedures to fix rotator cuff tears is increasing every year."

"Despite the increases in surgery for older patients, we were surprised to find that there were very few studies looking at the complications in older adults. While most patients do very well after surgery, we occasionally see patients that have a prolonged recovery because of a medical complication," he added.

Findings indicated that 1.4 percent of patients had some sort of complication after surgery. Dr. Schairer also explained that about half of those complications were serious in nature, such as an infection. He stressed the importance for surgeons to discuss non-medical problems with a patient before going into surgery. Working together with a primary care medical physician will help manage any potential complications.  

Read the full article at ryortho.com [subscription required].