Braided tape suture provides superior bone pull-through strength than wire suture in greater tuberosity of the humerus

IntroductionThe purpose of this study is to compare the pull-through strength of transosseous braided tape suture with wire suture in proximal humeri bones (greater tuberosity).MethodsA biomechanical study on eight cadaveric human specimens where two transosseous sutures were randomly applied on each specimen (anterior and posterior). Force/displacement curves were obtained for each specimen and the maximum pull-through load was noted.ResultsThere is a significant difference in maximal pull-through strength favoring braided tape suture over wire suture.ConclusionsTransosseous braided tape suture provides almost twice the bone pull-through strength and is slightly correlated to volumetric bone mineral density.