From July 1990 to June 1994, the arthroscopic decompression and cuff debridement were performed on 50 cases in 48 consecutive patients with either stage II or stage III impingement syndrome, and the patients were followed up for an average 2 years and 11 months(from 1 year 6 months to 4 years 9months). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of arthroscopic subacromial decompression and debridement in the treatment of shoulder impingement syndrome.
The results are as follows.
1. There were 33 males (35 cases) and 15 females (15 cases) and the mean age was 37 years for man and 47 years for woman.
2. According to Neer classification, 21 cases were classified as stage II and 29 cases were classified as stage III.
3. Among 50 cases, 21 cases who had no cuff tear were categorized as group 1, and 15 cases who had partial thickness cuff tear were categorized as group 2, and 14 cases who were found to have complete tear on cuff were categorized as group 3. The
effectiveness of the treatment and the difference of the satisfactory results were evaluated with statistical method among the groups.
4. The arthroscopic subacromial decompression and rotator cuff debridement were a good treatment method in all the three groups, however the satisfactory results were less likely in patients with cuff tears.
|