PURPOSE: The purpose was to investigate whether surgical repair earlier or later 
than 3 months after injury may result in similar outcomes and patient 
satisfaction.
METHODS: Seventy-three patients (75 shoulders, 58 males, mean age 59) who had 
undergone surgical intervention for traumatic rotator cuff tears from 1999 to 
2011 were assessed by MRI, clinical examination and Western Ontario Rotator Cuff 
Index (WORC) as a primary outcome measure and Oxford Shoulder score (OSS), 
Constant-Murley score (CS) and EQ-5D as secondary. The patients treated less 
than 3 months after injury (n = 39) were compared with patients treated more 
than 3 months after injury (n = 36). The average follow-up time was 56 months 
(range 14-149), and the average time from injury to repair for all patients was 
16 weeks (range 3-104). A single senior radiologist performed a blinded 
evaluation of all the MRIs. Rotator cuff integrity, presence of arthritis, fatty 
degeneration and muscle atrophy were evaluated.
RESULTS: No differences were found for any of the assessed outcomes (WORC, OSS, 
CS and EQ-5D) between the two groups. The mean WORC % was 77 % for both groups. 
Re-tear frequency was 24 %, nine in both groups. Patients with re-tear reported 
less satisfaction with their outcome.
CONCLUSIONS: The surgical treatment of symptomatic traumatic rotator cuff tears 
repairable later than 3 months after injury yields a good functional outcome, a 
high level of subjective patient satisfaction, and at the same level for 
patients receiving earlier treatment. Based on our findings, surgical repair 
could be encouraged whenever technically possible.
LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Retrospective Comparative Study, Level III.