No healing improvement after rotator cuff reconstruction augmented with an autologous periosteal flap

To show descriptive clinical and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging results after an additional periosteal flap augmentation in mini-open rotator cuff reconstruction and to evaluate potential healing improvement at long-term follow-up. Twenty-three patients with degenerative rotator cuff tears were followed after receiving a mini-open single-row repair with a subtendinous periosteal flap augmentation. Data were collected preoperatively, after 12 months and after 11 years. Clinical examination, simple shoulder test (SST), Constant–Murley Score (CS), ultrasonography examination and 3T MR imaging were performed. Out of 23 patients, 20 were available for short-term and 19 for final follow-up at a median of 11.5 years (range 10.4–13.0). Questions answered with “yes” in SST improved from baseline 5.0 (range 1.0–8.0) to short 10.5 (range 8.0–12.0) and final follow-up 12.0 (range 7.0–12.0). CS improved from 53.5 (range 25.0–66.0) to 80.8 (range 75.9–89.3) and finally to 79.8 points (range 42.3–95.4). Improvement was highly significant (p