A June 2023 study (1) found that unplanned readmission to the hospital within 30 days of a rotator cuff surgery is considered an infrequent event. The risk factors for it would be men more so than women If the patient had: COPD, hypertension, ASA Class III and IV (a worsening classification of general, overall health,) and total (longer) operative time to be independent risk factors for readmission following outpatient rotator cuff repair. More risk factors included: age, BMI (see below on obesity), Hispanic ethnicity, bleeding disorder, diabetes, hypertension, steroid use, current smoker, and procedure type.

Do non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) negatively impact surgical rotator cuff repair?

Do non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) negatively impact surgical rotator cuff repair? The answer may often be controversial.  In this May 2024 study (2) was to compare, post-operative patient-reported outcomes (PROs), complications rates, and retear rates of arthroscopic rotator cuff repairs in patients using ibuprofen post-operatively to those who did not use NSAIDs for six weeks after surgery were compared.

  • Patients were divided: 36 patients in the NSAID group and 89 in the no NSAID group.
  • The researchers found: “There was also no difference in post-operative complication rates and rates of symptomatic re-tear requiring reoperation between the groups. This supports that a short course of NSAIDs post-operatively, specifically ibuprofen, after rotator cuff repair does not increase reoperation rates nor lead to a clinically significant decrease in patient reported outcomes at one year.”

Rotator cuff surgery complications caused by obesity?

A January 2023 paper (3)  investigated surgical outcomes in overweight patients after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair surgery. Then they compared this outcomes to normal weight patients.

In both groups over weight patients (there were 57 patients in this group) and normal weight patients (there were 52 people in this group), demonstrated statistically and clinically significant improvements in pain and function scores with no difference in range of motion.

Overall, when comparing outcomes between the groups, there were significantly better outcomes in the normal-weight group’s pain and function scores. However, these differences did not reach clinical significance. Results: “Over-weight patients have improved outcomes after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair surgery with non-inferior clinical results when compared with normal-weight patients.”

1 Sclafani SJ, Partan MJ, Tarazi JM, Sherman AE, Katsigiorigis G, Cohn RM. Risk Factors for Unexpected Admission Following Outpatient Rotator Cuff Repair: A National Database Study. Cureus. 2023 Jun;15(6).
2 Hadro A, Huyke-Hernandez FA, Kleinsmith RM, Doxey SA, Schweitzer A, Ristow J, Cunningham BP, Braman J. Effect of post-operative NSAID use on rotator cuff repair outcomes. Journal of Orthopaedics. 2024 Oct 1;56:119-22.
3 Fares AB, Scanaliato JP, Green CK, Dunn JC, Gordon Jr M, Parnes N. The Effect of the Overweight Condition on Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff Repair Outcomes. Orthopedics. 2023 Feb 1:1-8.