Rotator cuff repair: relevance of patient age.

A review of patients after repair of a rotator cuff tear was done to determine the overall results, the influence of tear size, and the importance of patient age. A total of 88 patients were studied; 53 were 65 years or older, and 35 were younger than 65 years. Tear size was classified as small in three patients, medium in 34, large in 31, and massive in 20. Larger tears were more frequent in the older population. For patients younger than 65 years results were excellent in 31 (88.6%) of 35, satisfactory in three (8.6%), and unsatisfactory in one (2.9%). For those patients older than 65 years results were 41 (77.4%) excellent, seven (13.2%) satisfactory, and five (9.4%) unsatisfactory. Excellent results decreased from 89.2% in small or medium tears to 80.4% in large or massive tears. Although more challenging tears and fewer excellent results can be expected in the older patient, a gratifying outcome can usually be anticipated.