While clinical outcomes from biceps tenodesis are generally excellent, return to sport rates are highly variable, study reports.
Return to Sport After Biceps Tenodesis 35-100%
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The study, “Biceps Tenodesis in Patients Age 35 Years and Younger: A Systematic Review of Clinical Outcomes, Return to Sport, and Complications,” was published online on December 14, 2022 in the journal Arthroscopy.
A multi-center team of researchers (Rush University Medical Center, Hospital de La Santa Creu I Sant Pau, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Carrer de Sant Quintí in Barcelona, Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Orthopedic Center) designed a systematic review of clinical outcomes, return-to-sport rates, and complications following biceps tenodesis in patients aged 35 years and younger and then compared outcomes between overhead and non-overhead athletes.
The research group used Scopus, EMBASE and PubMed databases to collect data from databases’ inception through August 2022. All the studies included evaluated clinical outcomes following biceps tenodesis.
The team was able to analyze data from 9 studies and for 161 patients. The mean age of the patients was 25 years. Their postoperative outcomes at an average of 59 months follow-up included American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) scores ranging from 81.6 to 96 and mean Visual Analog Scores ranging from 0 to 2.1.
The mean overall return to sport rate ranged from 35% to 100% for all patients. For overhead athletes it was 35% to 86% and for non-overhead athletes it was 46% to 100%. The researchers reported complications in 0% to 19% of patients and 0% to 18% of patients required revision surgery.
Overall, the researchers found a wide variability in reported return to sport rates and low but varied rates of complications, reoperations, and failure.
Study authors include Garrett R. Jackson, M.D., Trevor Tuthill, B.S., Sachin Allahabadi, M.D., Christopher M. Brusalis, M.D., Daniel J. Kaplan, M.D., Parker Rea, B.S., Joan Sugrañes, M.D., Obianuju Obioha, M.D., Derrick M. Knapik, M.D., Jorge Chahla, M.D., Ph.D., and Nikhil N. Verma, M.D., all of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois.
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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