Shoulder Synovitis Does not Affect Pain After Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff Repair.

BACKGROUND

The goal of this study was to determine if there is an association between glenohumeral synovitis and early post-operative pain after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair.

METHODS

Fifty patients with symptomatic rotator cuff tears were prospectively enrolled prior to RCR. Baseline ASES score, VAS Pain score, forward elevation, and external rotation were recorded. Intra-operatively, synovitis was graded on a scale of zero to six as based on a previously validated scoring system. VAS Pain scores were obtained from patients post-operatively on days one through 14, week 6, and 3 months.

RESULTS

Average intra-operative synovitis score was 2.4 ± 1.6. No significant correlation was found between synovitis score and pre-operative forward elevation (P=0.171), external rotation (P=0.126), VAS Pain (P=0.623), or ASES (P=0.187) scores. No significant correlation was found between synovitis score and post-operative VAS Pain level at any time point. There was a moderate correlation between both pre-operative VAS Pain and ASES scores and post-operative VAS Pain in the first post-operative week. Workers' compensation patients had worse pain at 3 months post-operatively compared to non-workers compensation patients (P=0.038).

CONCLUSION

This study reveals that macroscopically assessed glenohumeral synovitis does not have any significant correlation with pre-operative or post-operative pain in patients undergoing arthroscopic rotator cuff repair; although higher pre-operative pain levels, worse pre-operative ASES scores, and workers compensation status do influence post-operative pain levels in arthroscopic rotator cuff repair.