Current Concepts of Arthroplasty for the Treatment of Massive Rotator Cuff Tears

Abstract

The purpose of this article was to explore current concepts of arthroplasty as a treatment for massive rotator cuff tears. Pubmed was searched using the words 'massive rotator cuff tears' and 'arthroplasty' for suitable articles, which were then reviewed and investigated with respect to history, indications, clinical outcomes, and treatment algorithms of arthroplasty in patients of massive rotator cuff tear. Arthroplasty can be considered a primary surgical treatment for patients with irreparable massive rotator cuff tears and hemiarthroplasty may be the treatment of choice in younger patients with an intact coracoacromial arch and no pseudoparalysis. Reverse total shoulder arthroplasty is the best surgical treatment for pain relief and the restoration of active forward flexion in elderly patients with cuff tear arthropathy and pseudoparalysis. Proper selection of arthroplasty can provide pain relief and functional improvement in patients with massive rotator cuff tears. However, complication rates remain high, and emphasize the importance of appropriate patient selection and careful operative technique.

Development of a computational model to study instability and scapular notching in reverse shoulder arthroplasty

“…In fact, we found evidence of plastic deformation at the beveled edge of the tested humeral polyethylene (Fig. 4), similar in location to polyethylene cups studied in scapular notching retrieval studies (Nyffeler et al, 2004;Oh and Choi, 2013).…”

“…The bottom left and right images show humeral cup retrievals of RSA following scapular notching. [These images are reprinted here with permission from(Nyffeler et al, 2004) and(Oh and Choi, 2013). ].…”