Clinical outcomes following reverse total shoulder arthroplasty with tuberosity excision for treatment of proximal humerus fractures: a case series

BACKGROUND: Reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (RTSA) has become an increasingly popular treatment option for complex 3- and 4-part proximal humerus fractures in elderly patients. The literature has demonstrated that tuberosity repair likely improves postoperative range of motion (ROM). However, the difference between tuberosity repair and excision may not be appreciable to patients in their day-to-day lives. This case series reports both objective and subjective clinical outcomes of patients who underwent RTSA with tuberosity excision for proximal humerus fractures. METHODS: We reviewed the records of 41 patients who underwent RTSA for complex 3- and 4- part proximal humerus fractures. All RTSA procedures were performed by a single surgeon between 2014 and 2017. All patients underwent RTSA with extended proximal stem cementation and tuberosity excision. Postoperative outcomes were measured at least 2 years postoperatively and included ROM measurements for forward flexion, internal rotation, abduction, and external rotation. Patient-reported outcome measures included Simple Shoulder Test scores, American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons scores, and Penn Shoulder Score were also reported. RESULTS: In this case series, we report on 41 patients, 33 females and 8 males. Objective measurements of ROM for forward flexion, abduction, and external rotation were 125, 95, and 36 degrees, respectively. On average, patients had an internal rotation score of 2.06 and were able to get their thumb to their iliac crest. Clinical outcome scores of these patients were 9.11, 77.79, and 74.12 for the Simple Shoulder Test, American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons, and Penn Shoulder Score, respectively. Strength of the deltoid was 5/5 in all 41 patients. CONCLUSIONS: When compared with the current literature, our tuberosity excision patients demonstrated deficits in forward flexion and abduction, with preserved external rotation. Our clinical outcome score measurements were consistent with clinical outcome measurements from previous studies of patients undergoing RTSA with tuberosity repair. We believe that tuberosity excision may be a reasonable and simpler surgical option for surgeons with lower volumes of shoulder fractures and patients with multiple comorbidities and higher surgical risk, owing to the similarity of outcome scores between our cohort and previous tuberosity repair groups.