Fox P, Heck C, Beaton D, Kennedy C, Harniman E, Jones C, Flitt G, Peixoto G; St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. foxp@smh.toronto.on.ca.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the factors associated with patients’ expectations and intraoperative findings of patients undergoing surgical repair of rotator cuff. SUBJECTS: Thirty-nine patients participated in the study, 16 women and 23 men with a mean age of 52 +/- 11.9 years. Surgical repair for rotator cuff was done on the left shoulder for 10 patients and on the right shoulder for 29 patients. METHODS: Before surgery, patients were asked to complete questionnaires that included demographic questions, rating their expectations of surgery, the SF-36, the SPADI and other health information. Physiotherapists assessed and documented range of motion and strength before surgery. During surgery, surgeons rated intraoperative findings of inflammation, attrition and tear size. ANALYSES: Descriptive statistics were generated for patients’ demographic and clinical information. To assess for collinearity among independent variables a Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated. Univariate linear regression analysis was performed to examine the factors associated with patients’ expectations and intraoperative findings. A p value of .20 was deemed acceptable as this was an exploratory study. SPSS was used for the analysis. RESULTS: Patients’ expectations of surgery were relatively high with a mean score of 82 +/- 18 out of 100. The total mean score for intraoperative findings was 4 +/- 1.99 out of a possible score of 10. High patients’ expectations of surgery were associated with older patients (p=.014) and higher preoperative ranges of active shoulder abduction (p=.004). No preoperative factors were found to be associated with intraoperative findings. CONCLUSIONS: This exploratory study highlights factors associated with patients’ expectations of surgical repair of rotator cuff. Results form this study may provide direction for future studies. FUNDING SOURCE: none.

Copyright 2004 by the American Physical Therapy Association

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