LOOP SECURITY AS A DETERMINANT OF TISSUE FIXATION SECURITY

Secure arthroscopic repair of rotator cuff tears and Bankart lesions r equires tight knots (knot security). Equally important, but usually ov erlooked, is the tightness of the suture loop (loop security). This st udy compared loop security in knots tied with No. 1 PDS suture using t hree different methods: (1) hand-tied, (2) single-hole standard knot p usher, and (3) cannulated double-diameter knot pusher. The results of this study show that the double-diameter knot pusher maintained tight suture loops that were equivalent in circumference to hand-tied loops and were significantly tighter than suture loops tied with a standard single-hole knot pusher. This study highlights the fact that loop secu rity is equally important to knot security in tissue fixation.