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Letters to the Editor to:

Scientific Articles:
Wren V. McCallister, I. Moby Parsons, Robert M. Titelman, and Frederick A. Matsen, III
Open Rotator Cuff Repair without Acromioplasty
J Bone Joint Surg Am 2005; 87: 1278-1283 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]
*Letters to the Editor: Submit a response to this article

Electronic letters published:

[Read Letter to the Editor] An Apology and Clarification by Dr. Matsen
Frederick A. Matsen, MD   (8 October 2008)

An Apology and Clarification by Dr. Matsen 8 October 2008
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Frederick A. Matsen, MD,
Chairman of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine
University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Send letter to journal:
Re: An Apology and Clarification by Dr. Matsen

matsen{at}u.washington.edu Frederick A. Matsen, MD

EDITOR'S NOTE: It has come to the attention of the Editorial Office that there was a substantial amount of redundancy and duplication in an article published in this Journal in 2005 and an article published in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research in 2001. The two articles had a common author, FA Matsen, III, MD. This concern was brought to the attention of Dr. Matsen, and his response is provided:

To the Editor:

I am writing with regard to similarities in two articles: McCallister, Parsons, Titelman and Matsen. "Open Rotator Cuff repair without Acromioplasty" JBJS (A) 2005:87:1278-1283 and Goldberg, Lippitt; and Matsen. "Improvement in Comfort and Function after Cuff Repair Without Acromioplasty." Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 2001 390:142-150.

The authors of the paper published in 2005 in this Journal failed to indicate that this was an update of a previous publication from our group in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research in 2001. Secondly, we did not cite the article in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research in the references of the paper listed in JBJS. Also, we used much of the same wording in the two papers. For these errors, we apologize to JBJS and its readership.

The more recent paper, however, does contain important information, presented below, not contained in the first article:

1. the highly significant differences in the results for men and women.

2. the highly significant relationship between the result and the number of tendons torn.

3. the comparison of the rationale and technique we use to those published by Codman over 70 years ago.

4. the findings in over twice as many shoulders.

We believe that this additional information will be of benefit to the orthopaedic community, and justifies the publication of the more recent manuscript.