Abstract
Objective
To describe demographic data, clinical outcome and short-term survival after shoulder arthroplasty.
Materials and Methods
The Danish Shoulder Arthroplasty Register was established in 2004. All 40 Danish hospitals and private clinics where shoulder arthroplasty are performed are participating.
Since 2006 where the reporting to the register became mandatory the compliance of reporting has been 88.9%. Data are collected by an internet based clinical measuring system where the orthopaedic surgeon report data such as diagnosis, type of arthroplasty, and demographic data. The follow-up results are collected by sending a questionnaire to the patient 10–14 month after the operation. The questionnaire contains a Western Ontario Osteoarthritis of the Shoulder index (WOOS). Each question is answered on a visual analogue scale with a possible score ranging from 0–100. There are 19 questions and the total score is ranging from 0–1900. For simplicity of presentation the raw scores is converted to a percentage of a normal shoulder.
Results
2320 Shoulder arthroplasties were reported to the register between 2006 and 2008. There were 69.4% women. Median age was 70.6, range 16.3–96.3. 699 arthroplasties (30.0%) were due to osteoarthritis, 98 (4.2%) due to arthritis, 1182 (50.9%) due to a proximal humeral fracture, 179 (7.4%) due to rotator cuff arthropaty, 62 (2.7%) due to caput necrosis and 79 (3.4%) due to other pathology condition such as cancer and revision surgery. 1352 (58.3%) were stemmed hemi arthroplasty, 77 (3.3%) total shoulder arthroplasty, 596 (25.7%) resurfacing arthroplasty and 243 (10.5%) reverse shoulder arthroplasty. 1288 patients (55.5%) returned a complete questionnaire. Median WOOS for all arthroplasties was 58.2, range 0.0–100.0. Median WOOS for arthritis was 59.3, range 13.3–99.8, osteoarthritis 67.9, range 0.0–100.0, a proximal humeral fracture 54.2, range 0.0–100.0, rotator cuff arthropaty 65.6, range 0.0–98.3 and caput necrosis 48.9, range 3.9–95.2. 171 (7.4%) operations were revisions. The most common indications of revision were luxation (2.2%), infection (1.3%), loosening (0.7%) and glenoid attrition (0.6%).
Conclusion
To our knowledge there is no previous study with such a large population presenting demographic data and clinical outcome after shoulder arthroplasty. We found good results for the groups of patients diagnosed with osteoarthritis, arthritis and cuff arthropaty. There were poorer results in the groups of patient diagnosed with a proximal humeral fracture and especially caput necrosis.