Biomechanical Comparison of Synthetic Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) vs Human Dermal Allograft (HDA), 2 vs 3 Glenoid Anchors, and Suture vs Minitape in Superior Capsule Reconstruction

Ryan S Ting; Allen A Guo; Ron Rosenthal; Hilal S A Al-Housni; Patrick H Lam; George A C Murrell

doi:10.1177/15563316221114135

Biomechanical Comparison of Synthetic Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) vs Human Dermal Allograft (HDA), 2 vs 3 Glenoid Anchors, and Suture vs Minitape in Superior Capsule Reconstruction

HSS J. 2023 Feb;19(1):44-52. doi: 10.1177/15563316221114135. Epub 2022 Jul 28.

Authors

Ryan S Ting^{1

2

3}, Allen A Guo^{1

2}, Ron Rosenthal², Hilal S A Al-Housni², Patrick H Lam^{1

2}, George A C Murrell^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
² Orthopaedic Research Institute, Saint George Hospital Campus, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
³ South Western Sydney Clinical School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Abstract

Background: Superior capsule reconstruction (SCR) is an option for the treatment of massive, irreparable rotator cuff tears. However, which materials yield the strongest constructs remains undetermined. Purposes: We sought to investigate whether SCR with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) or human dermal allograft (HDA), 2 or 3 glenoid anchors, and suture or minitape resulted in better failure load properties at the patch-glenoid interface. Methods: We conducted a biomechanical study in 30 glenoid-sided SCR repairs in Sawbones models divided into 5 groups. Each was pulled to failure to assess mode of failure, peak load (N), stiffness (N/mm), yield load (N), peak energy (N m), and ultimate energy (N m). The 5 groups were as follows: group 1-PTFE, 2 anchors, and suture; group 2-PTFE, 2 anchors, and minitape; group 3-HDA, 2 anchors, and suture; group 4-HDA, 2 anchors, and minitape; group 5-PTFE, 3 anchors, and minitape. Results: Repairs failed by button-holing of suture/minitape. Group 5 had greater peak load, stiffness, yield load, and peak energy (384 ± 62 N; 24 ± 3 N/mm; 343 ± 42 N; 4 ± 2 N m) than group 3 (226 ± 67 N; 16 ± 4 N/mm; 194 ± 74 N; 2 ± 1 N m) or group 4 (274 ± 62 N; 17 ± 4 N/mm; 244 ± 50 N; 2 ± 1 N m) and greater ultimate energy (8 ± 3 N m) than all other groups. Conclusions: This biomechanical study of SCR repairs in Sawbones models found that yield load was greater in PTFE than HDA, 3 anchors were better than 2, and minitape was no better than suture.

Keywords: arthroscopy; biomechanics; irreparable rotator cuff tear; superior capsular reconstruction; synthetic.