The role of acromion morphology in chronic subacromial impingement syndrome

This study investigated the role of acromion morphology in the aetiology of chronic subacromial impingement syndrome. Forty five patients with chronic subacromial impingement syndrome were included in the study. They were distributed into three groups according to their acromion types : six (13.3%) patients had type 1,24 (53.3%) patients type 2 and 15 (33.3%) patients type 3 acromion. Constant scoring was used for clinical evaluation. Arthroscopic subacromial decompression was performed in all patients in the three groups, without performing any acromioplasty that would change the morphology of acromion. We then compared the average Constant scores changes in all three groups after arthroscopic subacromial decompression. The average follow-up was 28.6 months (range : 12-47). The average change in Constant score after arthroscopic subacromial decompression was 5830 in patients with type 1 acromion, 58.21 in those with type 2 and 54.07 in those with type 3. No significant difference was observed between the changes in the average Constant scores of the three groups (p > 0.005). The scores were significantly improved following arthroscopic subacromial decompression in all three groups (p < 0.005). In this study, acromion type was not found to have an important role in the aetiology of chronic impingement syndrome; arthroscopic subacromial decompression without simultaneous acromioplasty thus appears as an appropriate treatment.