Clinical and anatomic considerations in the use of a new anterior inferior subaxillary nerve arthroscopy portal.

The axillary nerve has been an obstacle to safety creating bone tunnels for arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. Anatomic dissections of 42 cadaver shoulders have defined anatomic relationships that have allowed the authors to develop a safe arthroscopy portal distal to the axillary nerve. The senior author (SSB) has used this portal without complications in achieving arthroscopic transosseous rotator cuff repair. This portal allows the proper angle of approach to locate the distal hole of the tunnel in strong cortical bone.