A posterior surgical approach to the proximal part of the humerus

At least eight centimeters of the posterior aspect of the proximal region of the humeral diaphyseal cortex can be exposed through the interval between the lateral head of the triceps and the deltoid muscle. No nerves or major blood vessels are exposed in the dissection, although care must be taken to protect the axillary and radial nerves during the exposure. The safety of this approach was confirmed in fourteen upper extremities of seven adult cadavera, and it was used successfully for an excisional biopsy of an osteoid-osteoma in the proximal third of the posterior part of the humeral cortex of an eleven-year-old boy.