Results of biceps tenotomy for treatment of pathology of the long head of the biceps brachii

Historically, the surgical treatment of bicipital pathology has been a vari ety of tenodesis techniques. The purpose of this study is to report the res ults of simple biceps tenotomy for the treatment of bicipital pathology. Th irty shoulders in 30 consecutive patients who had a simple arthroscopic bic eps tendon release were reviewed. Data was collected according to the metho d of the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) shoulder evaluation fo rm. Outcome was assessed with the rating system of the ASES. The mean ASES shoulder score was 81.8. There was a significant reduction in pain and impr ovement in function after the procedure. The complication rate was 13.3%. B icipital pathology is a significant cause of morbidity around the shoulder. The results of this study demonstrate that functional outcome as measured by the ASES scoring system can be very good with an arthroscopic biceps ten don release for the treatment of biceps tendon pathology.