Mimicking natural connections could improve rotator cuff repair

Many rotator cuff repairs fail due to a variety of factors that could be solved by a new fix that imitates the body’s natural environment.

Researchers have developed a “scaffold” that mimics natural tissue and could lead to more durable rotator cuff repairs, including for large injuries and cases involving bone and tissue degeneration that are often the most difficult to fix. Devised by a team at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the new system was detailed in Science Advances.

“Successful rotator cuff repair requires more than just simply reattaching tendon to bone because the tendon-to-bone interface has a highly organized transition from tendon to fibrocartilage to bone, and each region provides distinct signals that guide how cells behave and what type of tissue they form,” said senior author Su Chin Heo, PhD, an assistant professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Bioengineering in the McKay Orthopaedic Research Laboratory. “The body’s cells constantly sense and respond to the physical, mechanical, and biomechanical signals in their surrounding environment. By designing our scaffold to better mimic these different microenvironments, we believe we’re able to provide the right cues in the right places for more complete and effective healing.”

Before it can be used in humans, the fix needs to go through trials in large animals. However, the team believes that, since it was designed to fit in with suturing systems used widely on current repairs, it could be taken up quickly by surgeons once proven ready.

Read the full article from Penn Medicine.