Determinants of Operative Time in Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff Repair

Abstract

Arthroscopic rotator cuff repairs have been reported to take between 72 and 113 min to complete. This team has adopted its practice to reduce rotator cuff repair times. We aimed to determine (1) what factors reduced operative time, and (2) whether arthroscopic rotator cuff repairs could be performed in under 5 min. Consecutive rotator cuff repairs were filmed with the intent of capturing a 2 values were calculated to quantify effect size. Video footage of a 4-min arthroscopic repair was captured on the 4th case. Backwards stepwise multivariate linear regression found that an undersurface repair technique (f2 = 0.08, p 2 = 0.06, p 2 = 0.01, p 2 = 0.01, p 2 = 0.01, p 2 = 0.004, p 2 = 0.006, p 2 = 0.005, p < 0.001) were independently associated with a faster operative time. Use of the undersurface repair technique, reduced anchor number, smaller tear size, increased surgeon and assistant surgeon case number, performing repairs in a private hospital and female sex independently lowered operative time. A <5-min repair was captured.

Keywords

• rotator cuff repair
• operative efficiency
• surgeon experience
• undersurface technique
• operative duration
• surgical throughput