[The shoulder cuff tears].

The cuff tears are frequent. The cuff has a fundamental role for the shoulder stabilisation. Shoulder impingement causes pathologies from simple tendinosis to rupture with excentric arthritis. Classicaly, we describe three stades. It is fundamental to have a good knowledge of the stades and to evaluate them with clinical examination and provocating tests. The radiologic examen is very important to confirm the pathology and to evaluate the lesions. Each stade has a surgical treatment if the conservative treatment gives bad results. Choice of the surgical procedure depends of the patient age and lesion types. Most of surgical procedures are arthroscopics techniques. Open surgery is reserved to massive or arthritis lesions.