154 patients (>70 years of age) with a full thickness supraspinatus tear were randomly assigned into one of two groups to compare the effectiveness of decompression and arthroscopic repair. The results of the study indicated that both interventions led to significant improvements in function and pain by 1 year follow up, but that repair led to significantly greater improvements than decompression. Differences were greater in cases of large tears and lower stages of fatty infiltration. There did not seem to be a significant impact of age (above or below 75 years) on outcome of arthroscopic repair