Variation in Humeral Head Bone Marrow Characteristics With Rotator Cuff Repair Healing

April 20, 2026 updated by: Kathleen Derwin, PhD, The Cleveland Clinic

Variation in Humeral Head Bone Marrow Characteristics and Their Associations With Rotator Cuff Repair Healing

This study investigates correlations between humeral head bone marrow characteristics and tendon healing of rotator cuff repairs. The anticipated results would motivate future research aimed to investigate local enrichment or transplantation of connective tissue progenitor cells to augment rotator cuff repair and the pursuit of novel methods of bone marrow screening to preoperatively identify patients with bone marrow characteristics related to rotator cuff repair success or failure.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Detailed Description

Healing following rotator cuff repair (RCR) remains a significant clinical challenge, and repair failure rates of 20-30% continue to be reported. To date limited attention has been directed toward understanding how intrinsic mechanistic factors may contribute to variable healing rates following RCR. The objective of this proposal is to quantify the variability of the humeral head bone marrow in patients undergoing RCR and test the prognostic significance of the local concentration of connective tissue progenitors (CTPs) for tendon healing. Our approach will be to enroll 50 patients undergoing RCR. At the time of RCR, 8 ml of bone marrow will be aspirated from the humeral head for quantitative progenitor cell assays. A core biopsy at the tendon repair footprint will be collected for histologic analysis of bone marrow composition. Tendon healing will be assessed by MRI (Sugaya score) at 6 months follow-up, the timeframe in which majority of re-tears occur The variation of bone marrow characteristics among patients will be described (Aim 1) and their correlation with rotator cuff tendon healing will be investigated (Aim 2). The proposal seeks to shift the investigational paradigm to intrinsic patient biologic factors, a fundamental and under-investigated realm of potential prognostic factors of RCR healing. Demonstrating that humeral head characteristics associate with re-tear after RCR will support future work to develop tools to screen patient bone marrow for characteristics predictive of RCR success or failure and advance novel methods that promote local enrichment or transplantation of progenitor cells to augment RCR.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
50

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.
  • Name: Kathleen Derwin, PhD
  • Phone Number: (216) 408-7930
  • Email: derwink@ccf.org

Study Contact Backup

  • Name: Cathy Shemo
  • Phone Number: (216) 218-1722
  • Email: shemoc@ccf.org

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Ohio
      • Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 44195
        • Cleveland Clinic

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 75 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Males or females, 18-75 years, with a 1-5 cm full thickness tear of the supraspinatus and/or infraspinatus tendon(s) requiring surgical repair

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Males or females
  • 18-75 years
  • 1-5 cm full thickness tear of the supraspinatus and/or infraspinatus tendon(s) that is fully reparable by double row technique as confirmed at surgery

Exclusion Criteria:

A 35 point exclusion criteria covers a variety of shoulder, musculoskeletal and general heath related conditions such as:

  • prior shoulder surgery (including rotator cuff repair)
  • symptomatic cervical spine disease
  • a frozen shoulder-- defined as a loss of passive range of motion (ROM) of more than 20° in any plane compared to the contralateral shoulder
  • advanced (grade 3 or 4) glenohumeral arthritis
  • worker's compensation cases
  • isolated subscapularis tears.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Tendon healing
Time Frame: 6 months post-operation
Sugaya score, 1-5 classification from MR imaging
6 months post-operation
Tendon healing
Time Frame: 6 months post-operation
Tendon retraction (mm) from CT imaging
6 months post-operation

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
The Cleveland Clinic

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Kathleen Derwin, PhD, The Cleveland Clinic

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
November 22, 2021

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
December 22, 2024

Study Completion (Estimated)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
June 30, 2029

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
October 14, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
October 25, 2021

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
November 3, 2021

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
April 23, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
April 20, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 21-811

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Cookie Settings

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. For more details carefully read our Privacy and Cookies Policy. ...>>>You can change your preferences or withdraw your consent at any time by deleting the cookies from your website or computer as described in the policy. Please accept it and choose your preferences by ticking the corresponding boxes in the "Manage Settings" section below. Please carefully read our Terms of Service before you proceed with using any part of this website.
«Manage Settings