Acromioplasty and subacromial impingement 2021. Latinamerican Perspective

Abstract

Introduction: although acromioplasty is one of the procedures most performed by shoulder surgeons, numerous recent publications have questioned its efficacy. The objective of the following study was to investigate current trends in the use of acromioplasty among shoulder surgeons in Latin America.

Materials and methods: a questionnaire was designed with the Google Forms methodology, with fifteen questions to collect information on the use of acromioplasty in daily practice. In total, sixty-five surgeons from sixteen Latin American countries were summoned. The modality of the answers was multiple choice and anonymous.

Results: the response rate was 100% (65/65). The average age of the respondents was forty-seven years (range 32-68 years). Eighty four percent of surgeons responded that they use acromioplasty associated with rotator cuff (RC) repairs and of these 91% perform it arthroscopically. The most frequently reported advantages of acromioplasty were that it improves the operative field (55%) and that it decompresses the RC (48%), and the disadvantage most often referred was anterosuperior shoulder instability (46%). The most frequent way to determine the amount of acromion to resect was the personal experience of the surgeon (42%). Sixty seven percent of surgeons release the coracoacromial ligament when performing acromioplasty and 57% referred to perform decompression associated with the distal clavicle resection. Fifty six percent of surgeons never perform coracoplasty when repairing the subscapularis. Regarding the etiopathogenesis of rotator cuff tears, 55% reported that the causes of the tears are intrinsic (degenerative).

Conclusion: there is a high variability in the indication and in the surgical technique used to perform acromioplasty among shoulder surgeons in Latin America. There is no agreement between the advantages and disadvantages or the contraindications of the procedure. Fifty years after Neer's theory, only 1.5% of those surveyed consider extrinsic tendon compression as the main etiology of RC pathology. Finally, some of the arguments referred to by the participants to justify the use of acromioplasty do not conform to the precepts proposed by Neer, but rather to causes such as releasing growth factors or improving visibility in the operative field.

Identifying the aspects of greatest controversy and disagreement serve as the basis for future research that allows consensus to guide daily practice according to the best level of available evidence.