Introduction: The Constant Score Functional Assessment (CS) is now the standard method of assessing shoulder disability in Europe. Previous studies have indicated that the CS values associated with a full-thickness rotator cuff tear (RCT) are lower than for normal shoulders. This study was designed to investigate which parameters of the CS were most influenced by the presence of a RCT. As ultrasonograpy has now been shown to have a high accuracy for diagnosing full-thickness RCTs it was used to establish the diagnosis.

Methods: 28 patients attending the Shoulder Clinic were invited to take part in this study for which Local Ethics Committee approval had been obtained. The majority of patients had a painful shoulder on at least one side. All patients had a CS carried out with the “Strength” measurement made in 3 ways – 1) maximum force using a fixed spring balance – FSB(max); 2) maximum force using a commercial myometer – M(max); 3) mean force from 2 to 4 seconds using a commcercial Myometer – M(mean). The CS was measured with no knowledge of the patient’s history or diagnosis and blinded to the state of the rotator cuff. The patients were then assessed using ultrasonograpy of the shoulder (Diasus with an 8–16MHz head) to establish the presence of a full-thickness RCT.

Results: The CS Values for the left and right shoulders have been analysed separately.

The results have also been analysed for each part of the Constant Score – Pain, Activities of Daily Living, Range of Movement and Strength and these will be presented.

Discussion: It was anticipated that subjects with a RCT would be found to be weaker and have a reduced CS in an affected shoulder. This was found to be the case for the left shoulder but not for the right. The reasons for this will be discussed. The abnormally low CS for the normal right shoulders (Group 1) will also be explored.

Conclusion: The CS may be a valuable method of identifying those patients with a RCT. This study indicates that a more careful evaluation of “Strength” measurements still needs to be undertaken.

Introduction: The Constant Score Functional Assessment (CS) is now the standard method of assessing shoulder disability in Europe. It has been observed that the CS values decrease with age and attempts have been made in Canada (Constant, 1986), Germany (Tempelhof, 1999), Switzerland (Gerber, 1992) and US (Romeo, 2002) to produce national norms against which the subject’s Constant Score might be compared. Unfortunately the methods used for measuring the “Strength” category of the CS have varied and thus the results are not uniformly comparable. This study has used three methods of evaluating “Strength” for the CS in a randomised group of subjects aged over 50 in order to establish the UK norms.

Methods: 200 patients stratified for age over 50 were invited to take part in this study for which Local Ethics Committee approval had been obtained. Of these 200, 46 patients (21 males) attended and all attenders had a CS carried out with the “Strength” measurement made in 3 ways – 1) maximum force using a fixed spring balance – FSB(max); 2) maximum force using a commercial myometer – M(max); 3) mean force from 2 to 4 seconds using a commercial Myometer – M(mean). The CS values have been plotted for age and sex.

Results: The results for the 25 females and 21 males using M(mean) are shown below. The middle line represents the linear regression with the 95% Confidence Intervals above and below.

Discussion: The results confirm that there is a deterioration in the CS with age in both men and women. The outliers in three of the four graphs will be discussed and the analysis represented after removal of outliers for which there is a justification for exclusion. The differences between the left and right shoulders will be discussed.

Significant differences were identified between the 3 methods of “Strength” measurement, highlighing the need for a uniform method of carrying out the CS.

Conclusion: The UK pattern of deteriorating CS with age mirrors that seen in other countries but the values are different. These differences are significant and make it necessary to reconsider the use of the corrected CS. It is probably wiser to use the uncorrected CS but refer to normal values as a guide for the expected CS at different ages.

Introduction: The Nottingham Hood is a polyester soft tissue reinforcement device for the treatment of weakened or torn rotator cuff tendons (RCTs). The device was introduced in 1987 and has undergone a number of modifications from a close weave polyester modified aortic vascular graft (Mark 1) to an embroidered trefoil shape (Mark 4 – Pearsall’s Ltd) which has now been available since 2000. While this device has been under development it has been used on a named patient basis for 10 years on humanitarian grounds as an alternative treatment option for patients with massive RCTs. Approximately 30 Nottingham Hoods have been inserted over the past 10 years. This study investigates the histological changes and ingrowth associated with this device.

Methods: Four patients who have had the Nottingham Hood inserted for massive RCTs have had re-operations for various reasons on five occasions. Excised material from the rotator cuff has been subjected to histological investigation. Excised biopsy material has been obtained 6 weeks, 6, 9 & 12 months and 14 years following implantation.

Transmitted and polarised light microscopy has been used in all cases.

Results: At 6 weeks birefringent clear material similar to suture material was identified, invested by fibrin and occasional red cells i.e. old thrombus. The fibrin was partly calcified and insinuated between bundles of the meshwork material. No true ingrowth of material was seen at this stage. At 6 months the material was seen macroscopically to be covered with collagenous material, rather like fascia which interdigitated closely with the embedded polyester material. At 14 years the mesh appeared to be invested, sandwich-like into a collagenous fascia-like structure with dense hyaline bands of collagen. Some fibrin was also present between the fibrils and a low grade foreign body giant cell response with light chronic inflammation. The local synovium showed detritic synovitis.

Discussion: The histological features show that there is an early organisational response to the insertion of the new tissue, which is then accompanied by long-term incorporation into host tissues by fibrosis and scarring. A small fibrin and foreign body response lingers on.

Conclusion: This long-term follow-up assessment provides evidence that long-term implantation of polyester as reinforcement for the rotator cuff tendons is not associated with serious biological problems. However the problem of stretching of the repaired rotator cuff muscles does occur and needs to be considered in more depth.

Introduction: This study investigates the survival (and radiological loosening) rates of prostheses following uncemented Total Shoulder Arthroplasties (TSAs) focusing on the glenoid baseplate fixation.

Methods: ALL uncemented TSAs inserted in one shoulder unit from 1989 to 2001 were entered onto a database prospectively and the patients monitored to death or failure of the implant, resulting in revision surgery. Over 80% of the surviving implants were monitored on sequential radiographs and the radiological loosening rate was observed. 273 TSAs have been monitored – 193 with a porous coated glenoid baseplate and 80 with a hydroxyapatite coating on top of the porous coating.

Results: The Survival rates (%) of the non-HA coated baseplates at 1 to 12 years using the Life Table Method were:− 97, 93, 89, 83, 83, 81, 79, 79, 77, 75, 75 & 75% respectively. The Survival rates for the HA coated glenoid base-plates at 1 to 4 years were 100, 97, 93, & 93% respectively. Failures were predominantly due to mechanical loosening and glenoid disassembly with only 3 cases of infection documented. Thus by 4 years there was a statistically significant improvement in survival of the glenoids. Survival rates were further reduced when radiological loosening was taken into account. The earlier series was analysed to assess the survival of prostheses inserted for RA and OA. The survival rates at 5 and 10 years were 78% & 70% for OA and 96% and 88% for RA.

Discussion & Conclusions: This Life Table analysis confirms the early benefit from the use of hydroxy-apatite coating of the glenoid implant of a TSA. Further improvements, particularly in relation to reducing further the small risk of disassembly are underway.

Purpose: To analyse preliminary outcomes of a new synthetic ligament used for reconstructing coraco-clavicular ligament in acromio-clavicular joint disruption.

Methods: Patients who underwent acromio-clavicular joint stabilisation using Nottingham Surgilig were followed up at average of 40 months (range 6–80 months) post operation. Apart from clinical and radiological assessment, the Constant-Murley scoring system and the Imatani scores were also used to measure outcome.

Results: Twenty patients underwent this operation and data was available on 19 of them. These patients had their operation after an average of 18 months following injury, during which period they had conservative treatment, except in 2 cases where a Weaver Dunn operation was performed initially.

The mean Constant score was 88 (s.d. 12). The mean Imatani score was 86 (s.d. 16). Most patients were satisfied with the operation (90%). There was one case of rupture through the central portion of the Surgilig, and following extensive laboratory analysis, the ligament has been modified since. One patient had a fracture of his coracoid while lifting heavy weights. In 4 patients there was clinical and radiological evidence of loosening of the screw but only 1 complained of this being a problem.

Conclusion: This is an initial medium term outcome analysis of the Nottingham Surgilig. Our results are promising and justify further use and evaluation of this relatively new technique.

We report the results of a method of reconstructing massive rotator cuff (RC) tears and reinforcing the repaired RC tendons with re-tensioning of the cuff to effect reconstruction of tears which were previously considered non-repairable.

Methods A consecutive series of 37 patients (19 men) with a mean age of 61 years (range 45–80) are reported. Mean duration of pre-op symptoms was 19 (4–36) months and the mean pre-op Constant Score (CS) was 41. Insertion involved anchoring the device to the undersurface of the retracted RC tendon with Ethibond sutures, passing the other end of the device through a tunnel under the greater tuberosity and anchoring the device, under tension, to the proximal humerus with 1 or 2 screws. The proximal fixation is similar to “spot-welding” while the distal fixation is a “flexible plate” fixation.

Results The follow-up mean CS (minimum 10/12 post-op) was 54. There has been one deep infection. Two had MRI confirmed re-rupture of the RC. One case of a stiff shoulder required manipulation. This embroidered polyester augmentation device is resistant to re-tears and integrates well with medium term re-centering of the humeral head which had been superiorly displaced pre-op.

The Nottingham Hood is a polyester soft tissue reinforcement device for the treatment of weakened or torn rotator cuff tendons (RCTs). The device was introduced in 1987 and has undergone a number of modifications from a close weave polyester modified aortic vascular graft (Mark 1) to an embroidered trefoil shape (Mark 4 – Pearsall’s Ltd) which has now been available since 2000. While this device has been under development it has been used on a named patient basis for 10 years on humanitarian grounds as an alternative treatment option for patients with massive RCTs. Approximately 30 Nottingham Hoods have been inserted over the past 10 years. This study investigates the histological changes and ingrowth associated with this device.

Four patients who have had the Nottingham Hood inserted for massive RCTs have had re-operations for various reasons on five occasions. Excised material from the rotator cuff has been subjected to histological investigation. Excised biopsy material has been obtained 6 weeks, 6, 9 & 12 months and 14 years following implantation. Transmitted and polarised light microscopy has been used in all cases.

At 6 weeks birefringent clear material similar to suture material was identified, invested by fibrin and occasional red cells i.e. old thrombus. The fibrin was partly calcified and insinuated between bundles of the meshwork material. No true ingrowth of material was seen at this stage. At 6 months the material was seen macroscopically to be covered with collagenous material, rather like fascia which interdigitated closely with the embedded polyester material. At 14 years the mesh appeared to be invested, sandwich-like into a collagenous fascia-like structure with dense hyaline bands of collagen. Some fibrin was also present between the fibrils and a low grade foreign body giant cell response with light chronic inflammation. The local synovium showed detritic synovitis.

The histological features show that there is an early organisational response to the insertion of the new tissue, which is then accompanied by long-term incorporation into host tissues by fibrosis and scarring. A small fibrin and foreign body response lingers on.

This long-term follow-up assessment provides evidence that long-term implantation of polyester as reinforcement for the rotator cuff tendons is not associated with serious biological problems. However the problem of stretching of the repaired rotator cuff muscles does occur and needs to be considered in more depth.

Introduction: The Constant Score Functional Assessment (CS) is now the standard method of assessing shoulder disability in Europe. It has been observed that CS values decrease with age and attempts have been made in Canada (Constant, 1986), Germany (Tempelhof, 1999), Switzerland (Gerber, 1992) and US (Romeo, 2002) to produce national norms. Unfortunately the methods used for measuring the “Strength” category of the CS have varied. This study aimed to establish UK norms.

Methods: 200 patients stratified for age over 50 were invited to take part in this study for which Local Ethics Committee approval had been obtained. Of these 200, 46 patients (21 males) attended and all attendees had a CS carried out with the “Strength” measurement made in 3 ways – 1) maximum force using a fixed spring balance – FSB(max); 2) maximum force using a Nottingham myometer – M(max); 3) mean force from 2 to 4 seconds using a Nottingham myometer – M(mean). Results: The results for the 25 females and 21 males using M(mean) show a general trend of decreasing Constant Score with increasing age for the left and right shoulders of both the male and female subjects. There were some outliers, particularly in the female results, which were reflected in widened 95% confidence intervals. Paired student t-tests found statistically significant differences between M(mean) and FSB (max) results (left, p< 0.01; right, p=0.013) and M(mean) and M(max) (left, p< 0.01; right, p< 0.01).

Discussion: The results confirm deterioration in the CS with age in both men and women. Constant Score values from our study differ from previous studies, with up to 15 points difference between our results and those from Romeo 2002.

Significant differences were identified between the 3 methods of “Strength” measurement, highlighting the need for a uniform method of carrying out the CS. Conclusion: The UK pattern of deteriorating CS with age mirrors that seen in other countries but the values are different. These differences are significant and make it necessary to reconsider the use of the corrected CS. It is probably wiser to use the uncorrected CS but refer to normal values as a guide for the expected CS at different ages.

This study investigates the survival (with gross radiological loosening) rates of prostheses following uncemented Total Shoulder Arthroplasties (TSAs) focusing on the glenoid baseplate fixation.

All uncemented TSAs inserted in one shoulder unit from 1989 to 2001 were entered onto a database prospectively and the patients monitored to death or failure of the implant, resulting in revision surgery. Over 80% of the surviving implants were monitored on sequential radiographs and the radiological loosening rate was observed. 273 TSAs have been monitored – 193 with a porous coated glenoid baseplate and 80 with a hydroxyapatite coating on top of the porous coating.

The Survival rates (%) of the non-HA coated base-plates at 1 to 12 years using the Life Table Method were:- 97, 93, 89, 83, 83, 81, 79, 79, 77, 75, 75 & 75% respectively. The Survival rates for the HA coated glenoid baseplates at 1 to 4 years were 100, 97, 93, & 93% respectively. Failures were predominantly due to mechanical loosening and glenoid disassembly with only 3 cases of infection documented. Thus by 4 years there was a statistically significant improvement in survival of the glenoids. Survival rates were further reduced when radiological loosening was taken into account. The earlier series was analysed to assess the survival of prostheses inserted for RA and OA. The survival rates at 5 & 10 years were 78% & 70% for OA and 96% & 88% for RA.

This Life Table analysis confirms the early benefit from the use of hydroxyapatite coating of the glenoid implant of a TSA. Further improvements, particularly in relation to reducing further the small risk of disassembly are underway.

Introduction: This study was designed to investigate which parameters of the Constant Score are most influenced by the presence of a Rotator Cuff Tear (RCT).

Methods: 28 patients attending the Shoulder Clinic took part in this study for which Ethics approval had been obtained. Strength measurements were assessed in three ways: 1) maximum force using a fixed spring balance (FSB) 2) maximum force using the Nottingham Mecmesin Myometer 3) mean force during 2nd to 4th seconds using Nottingham Myometer. The CS assessor was blind to the volunteer’s history and state of their rotator cuff. Ultrasonography was used to establish the presence of a full-thickness RCT.

Results: The CS values for the left and right shoulders were analysed separately. No statistically significant difference (p> 0.05) was found between shoulders with a RCT and without a RCT in the pain, ADL and ROM parameters. Left shoulders with a RCT scored significantly different strength scores to those without (p< 0.05) but this significance was not seen in the right shoulders (p> 0.05). Shoulder strength measurements were highest with the FSB and lowest when measured using the mean force.

Discussion: The results obtained so far suggest that a shoulder with a full-thickness tear of the RC may obtain a significantly lower strength score than a normal shoulder. It does not suggest that any of the other three parameters of the CS can indicate the presence of a tear.

Conclusion: A reduction of shoulder strength alone might be a good indicator of a full-thickness RCT. However, this study indicates the importance of standardising the method of shoulder strength assessment for the Constant Score.