Large-to-massive rotator cuff tears

Rotator cuff injuries have held a place in the surgical literature for well over a century, since Codman’s reports of successful repair in 1911. Rotator cuff tears can be classified in three major ways – chronicity, thickness, and size. When a definitive injury is present, tears may be classified as acute tears when the injury occurred within 6 weeks of presentation. Otherwise, they are labeled as subacute or chronic tears. Tears without a definitive history of injury can be classified in a similar manner based on the timing of the onset of symptoms. Tears may be partial thickness and involve either the bursal side or articular side or cause delamination and present as intertendinous. Large and massive tears are full-thickness rotator cuff defects that include multiple tendons.