Grant: Operating Grant

The rotator cuff of the shoulder is the most commonly injured tendon in humans. Surgery is often needed to repair the tear. However, the failure rate of this surgery is high. Long-term successful repair of the tear is achieved in only half of patients. Failed repairs cause pain, muscle wasting, weakness, decreased range of motion and poor shoulder function. In the past, open surgery to repair rotator cuff tears created a bony trough, and sutures or tacks temporarily held the tendon onto the bone until the tear was healed. Cells from inside the bone were the major contributor to tendon healing. Currently, arthroscopic surgery has all but replaced open surgery. Arthroscopic surgery does not create a trough, and therefore cells from the bone marrow are not available to aid in the repair. The recruitment in large numbers of these bone marrow cells at the proper time could improve the success of current tendon surgery. We aim to test this concept in both an animal model and a human trial. The distinguishing feature of this research is the unique timing for recruiting bone marrow cells to initiate the healing. Our hypothesis is that the bone marrow cells will not only accelerate the healing but also increase the success of the surgery and the patient's shoulder function.