Osteoporosis Drug Shown To Aid In Rotator Cuff Surgery Recovery

New York, NY, United States (AHN) – A new research study shows how an approved therapy for osteoporosis, Forteo, may speed healing and improve recovery in tears in the shoulder’s rotator cuff. Surgery to repair the damage for tears in the shoulder’s rotator cuff is a treatment protocol for a common sports injury however typical patient outcomes are often painful and restricting.

“According to a previous study, only 69 percent of rotator cuff repairs were completely healed when evaluated two years after the surgery,” says Scott Rodeo, M.D., co-chief of the Sports Medicine and Shoulder Service at Hospital for Special Surgery and senior author on the study.

He goes on to say, “Although not all of the patients with failed rotator cuff tendon healing had poor clinical outcomes, we wanted to look for ways to further improve patient outcomes.”

The researcher team hypothesized that because Forteo stimulated both bone and cartilage formation, it might enhance the healing process after rotator cuff surgery. Using a rat model, they performed the surgery and then gave some rats Forteo injections in amounts comparable to human doses.

Researchers found that at weeks four through eight, the tendon to bone interface in the rats which had the Forteo treatments appeared much more like normal tissue. Closer analysis also showed that the rats who received Forteo produced more bone and cartilage cells, but the organization of the tissue was better and more closely resembled normal tissue.

Medical professionals say that these early results which showed the tendon was also significantly stiffer, a sign of proper healing, at 8 weeks gives insight into human treatments.

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