Pectoralis Major Tendon Rupture

The pectoralismajor muscle, or most commonly its tendon that attaches to the humerus, canrupture. Pectoralis major ruptures are uncommon injuries that occur almostexclusively in men between the ages of 20 to 50 and usually result fromviolent, eccentric contraction of the muscle. Surgery, whether early ordelayed, consistently yields superior results compared with nonsurgicalmanagement. A common method for reattachment of the pectoralis tendon is anopen procedure that requires bone tunnels with high strength suture or the useof multiple suture anchors.

Pec Button Technique

The Arthrex Pec Buttons are used for fixation of soft tissue-to-bone intended as fixation posts, a distribution bridge, or for distributing suture tension over areas of ligament or tendon repair. Each end of the buttons has an angled face to promote a toggle effect when the buttons contact the opposite cortex, enabling the Pec Buttons to be ideally suited for the repair of ruptures of the pectoralis major tendon back to bone. A unicortical pilot hole is formed with a drill bit and after attaching FiberWire® or FiberTape® sutures from the whipstitched pec tendon, the button is inserted in a unicortical fashion using the inserter.