Surgical Outcome Following Arthroscopic Fixation of Acromioclavicular Joint Disruption With the TightRope Device

The objective of this study was to evaluate the preliminary radiographic and clinical results of grade IV and V acromioclavicular joint disruption repair using the arthroscopic Arthrex acromioclavicular TightRope (Naples, Florida) fixation technique. Numerous procedures have been described for surgical management of acromioclavicular joint disruption. The TightRope device involves an arthroscopic technique that allows nonrigid anatomic fixation of the acromioclavicular joint. A cohort of 10 men and 2 women with a mean age of 43 years (range, 25-61 years) underwent the acromioclavicular joint TightRope procedure between April 2007 and October 2009. Eleven patients had either Rockwood grade IV or V disruptions and 1 sustained a distal third clavicle fracture with acromioclavicular joint disruption. Data was collected from a chart review. Patients were evaluated clinically, radiographically, by the simple shoulder test, and by overall satisfaction. There were 2 failures of reduction and 1 loss of reduction at final radiographic follow-up. The rate of fixation failure was 16.6%. All patients had > 110 degrees of total elevation. The majority of patients obtained satisfactory functional results according to the Simple Shoulder Test averaging 11 of 12 questions answered positively (range, 7-12; standard deviation, 1.50) and 11 of 12 patients were satisfied with the procedure. At final phone interview at approximately 2 years postoperatively, 6 patients were lost to follow-up. The remaining patients were all satisfied with the procedure and no patients reported subjective loss of reduction or deterioration of function. Simple Shoulder Test average was maintained with 11 of 12 positively answered questions (range, 7-12; standard deviation, 2.0) This case series revealed a high rate of fixation failure with the TightRope system. Still, most patients were satisfied with the procedure and achieved high functional shoulder results.