The Effect of Trabecular Microstructure and Mechanical Properties on the Pullout Strength of Suture Anchors

Suture anchors are a type of bone anchor designed to attach soft tissues, such as tendons and ligaments, to bone. Suture anchors are commonly used for soft tissue repairs including rotator cuff repairs, bicep tenodesis, flexor tendon repairs, and patellar tendon ruptures among others. In 2007, over 1 million suture anchors were used in 460,000 shoulder repairs in the US alone[1].</jats:p

The Influence of Trabecular Microstructure on Mechanical Properties and the Pullout Strength of Suture Anchors

Suture anchors provide soft-tissue fixation, often tendons and ligaments, to bone. The most common type of surgery in which suture anchors are used is in rotator cuff repairs, where the anchor is implanted into the humerus to create a point of fixation for the supraspinatus.[1–2] Pullout strength, or the force necessary to pull the anchor from the bone, has been previously used as a metric to compare suture anchor performance. In investigating suture anchor performance, it has been suggested that pullout strength is positively correlated to bone mineral density (BMD).[2]</jats:p