Late results of total shoulder replacement in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis of the shoulder is a progressive and destructive joint disease, and similar to arthritis in other joints, progression of the disease is unpredictable and may stop at any stage of involvement. Between 1983 and 1996, more than 500 shoulder prostheses were implanted in patients at the authors' institution. Total shoulder replacement yields satisfactory short and long term results even in patients with severely destructed joints. Pain relief is reliable and significant as reported in short and long term studies. In most patients the functional result is good or acceptable. Although range of motion is only slightly increased, a satisfactory overall range of motion is achieved by most patients because of the unaffected scapulothoracic motion. However, deteriorating results, emphasizing the complexity of shoulder arthroplasty, were seen with increasing observation time in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Proximal migration of the humeral prosthesis attributable to rotator cuff failure, with secondary eccentric glenoid loading and progressive loosening, is latent in patients with chronic progressive rheumatoid disease and was by far the most common complication (42%) in the present series.