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Rotator Cuff Across the Life Span pp 3–10Cite as

Diagnosis and Classification of Rotator Cuff Tears

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Abstract

Rotator cuff pathology is the most common condition affecting the shoulder. The clinical results of rotator cuff repair in symptomatic patients are good to excellent in a high percentage of cases. These observations underline the weight of diagnosing this pathology correctly. Although many classification systems have been used to describe rotator cuff tears in the orthopedic literature, there is a lack of a current standard classification that includes all the types of rotator cuff tears, the characteristics of the tears and is being used universally. Possible factors contributing to this situation could be a poor interobserver agreement, inaccuracy, incompleteness, or complexity. An improved evaluation of the rotator cuff tears, the advances in imaging methods, and the advent of arthroscopy, in particular, have provided better opportunities to understand and treat these lesions. This paper describes (1) a comprehensive review of diagnostic methods for rotator cuff tears and (2) the ISAKOS rotator cuff tear classification system.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, IIS-Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Madrid, Spain

    Emilio Calvo, Carlos Rebollón Guardado & Diana Morcillo

  2. Universidad Autónoma, Madrid, Spain

    Emilio Calvo, Carlos Rebollón Guardado & Diana Morcillo

  3. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Instituto Argentino de Diagnóstico y Tratamiento, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Guillermo Arce

Authors
  1. Emilio Calvo
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  2. Carlos Rebollón Guardado
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  3. Diana Morcillo
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  4. Guillermo Arce
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Emilio Calvo .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Orthopaedic Sportsmedicine, University of Munich (TUM), Orthopaedic Sportsmedicine, Munich, Bayern, Germany

    Andreas B. Imhoff

  2. Department of Orthopaedics, Tulane University School of Medicine, Department of Orthopaedics, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Felix H. Savoie III

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© 2019 ISAKOS

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Calvo, E., Guardado, C.R., Morcillo, D., Arce, G. (2019). Diagnosis and Classification of Rotator Cuff Tears. In: Imhoff, A.B., Savoie, F.H. (eds) Rotator Cuff Across the Life Span. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-58729-4_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-58729-4_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-58728-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-58729-4

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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