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Updated: Jun 16, 2026
Reverse Total Shoulder Arthroplasty
Published on: July 5, 2011
Functional outcome of shoulder hemiarthroplasty for fractures: A multicentre analysis
Falk Reuther1, Bernd Mühlhäusler, Diethard Wahl
1Department of Traumatology and Orthopaedics, DRK Hospital Berlin-Köpenick, Salvador Allende Strasse 2-8, D-12559 Berlin, Germany. f.reuther@drk-kliniken-berlin.de
Unlabelled:
In this multicentre study, data on 102 shoulder hemiarthroplasties for the treatment of fractures were analysed retrospectively with regard to tuberosity healing and functional outcome.
Methods:
Clinical outcome was assessed using the constant score (CS) and the American Shoulder and Elbow Score (ASES). The mean follow-up time was 28.1 months. The proportion of patients presenting tuberosity healing was 35.3% (36 out of 102).
Results:
Anatomical tuberosity healing has a significant effect on CS, especially for lateral elevation (p=0.0076), forward elevation (p=0.0002), power (p=0.0023) and the ASES (p=0.017). However, the pain value of the CS was not influenced by tuberosity healing (p=0.34). In patients with anatomically healed tuberosities, the CS averaged 53.0 points, whereas in the group of patients with non-anatomical tuberosity healing, the score averaged 40.1 points (p=0.0004). There was an 11-fold increase in tuberosity nonunion in females compared with males (p=0.0045). Further, nonunion was seen to be associated with advanced age of >70 years (p=0.037) and the presence of osteoporosis (p=0.034).
Conclusion:
In this study, we found that anatomical tuberosity healing around the prosthesis improved functional outcome and range of motion.
