2021 AANA/ASES Specialty Session-Add Another Layer: My Case for Rotator Cuff Tear Augmentation

Add Another Layer: My Case for Rotator Cuff Tear Augmentation

Video Transcription

Video Summary

Dr. Bill Levine discussed the challenges in rotator cuff repair, highlighting a high failure rate due to biologic healing issues rather than biomechanics alone. Traditional augmentation patches like porcine SIS and dermal allografts show disappointing re-tear rates. He advocates for biologic augmentation using bioinductive scaffolds, specifically a biphasic nanofiber inlay scaffold developed at Columbia, which mimics native tendon-to-bone histology and showed promise in animal studies. Current evidence is limited, and rigorous clinical trials are needed. Dr. Levine concludes that future rotator cuff repairs may require biomimetic inlay scaffolds to improve healing outcomes.

Asset Caption

William N. Levine, M.D.

Keywords

rotator cuff repair

biologic augmentation

bioinductive scaffolds

biphasic nanofiber inlay

biomimetic tendon healing