Published on June 8, 2024
By Admin
Shoulder replacement surgery is a good option for painful shoulder conditions which are not amenable to any other non surgical/ surgical options. Usually this is the last option in the various treatment modalities for the shoulder ailments.
The usual indications of this surgery are complex fractures in the elderly which are not able to be fixed with the plates/ screws or in which the results of fixation of the fractures have been found to be consistently poor. Such fractures are usually fracture dislocation of the shoulder or 4 part fractures around the ball of the shoulder joint. The other indications are irreparable cuff tears in the elderly or severe painful arthritis of the shoulder joint.
Regarding the fractures, the opinion of a high end expert is important to label it as a non fixable fracture. Similarly, the rotator cuff tears are usually repairable and every effort should be made to repair them to preserve the original shoulder joint. Thus an expert arthroscopy surgeon should be consulted to get the best decision for the patient.
There are various types of shoulder replacement surgeries including partial replacement (only ball is replaced), total shoulder replacement (both ball and socket are replaced) and the reverse shoulder replacement (the ball is fixed in placed of socket and the socket is fixed in place of ball thus reversing the shoulder surfaces)
The life of shoulder replacement surgery is also limited like any other joint replacement surgeries so these surgeries are usually recommended in elderly patients beyond sixty years of age. The reverse shoulder replacement is reserved for very severe cases where the rotator cuff is torn beyond repair (massive rotator cuff tear) with arthritis of the joint.
The risks of shoulder replacement surgeries include dislocation of the joint, injury to the nerves/ vessels during the surgery, infection and late wearing off of the artificial surfaces.
The cost of the surgery is high due to the cost of the implants. It is lowest for partial replacement followed by total replacement and reverse replacement in the increasing order of the cost.
There are many painful conditions of the shoulder like frozen shoulder, partial/ small rotator cuff tears, amenable fractures where this surgery is not indicated and should not be done.
Before going for this huge surgical procedure, it may be worthwhile to get a second opinion from another reputed/ expert surgeon, because this surgery is never an emergency surgery and the decision should be taken in an elective manner.