Purpose: The best strategy to adopt for the long head of the biceps during total shoulder arthroplasty for centred primary joint degeneration remains a controversial issue. We analysed the influence of long head of the biceps (LHB) tenodesis on outcome.

Material and methods: From retrospective multicentric series of 766 shoulder prostheses implanted for centred primary degeneration of the shoulder joint, we selected 625 shoulders with sufficient data concerning the LHB. We defined two groups: 131 shoulders with LHB tenodesis and 494 shoulders with a preserved LHB. We analysed clinical outcome with the Constant score and subjective outcome at two years. We identified four groups: 70 humeral prostheses without tenodesis, 10 humeral prostheses with tenodesis, 424 total shoulder arthroplastues without tenodesis, and 121 total shoulder arthroplasties with tenodesis.

Results: The Constant score was significantly better in the tenodesis group (74.7) than in the group without tenodesis (70.8). This significant difference was also found for the weighted score and likewise for active anterior elevation and active external rotation in position 1. There was no difference concerning postoperative fatty degeneration. By subgroups, the analysis showed significant improvement in the Constant score for humeral prostheses with tenodesis and total shoulder arthroplasty with tenodesis over the same implants without tenodesis. This same significant difference was observed for the 364 patients who had a minimum follow-up of 36 months: tenodesis improved the Constant score, the weighted Constant score, active anterior elevation, and active external rotation.

Discussion: The causal role of the LHB in shoulder pain is now well documented in the literature. Several authors have advocated tenotomy or tenodesis of the LHB during surgical treatment of rotator cuff tears. The same is not true for shoulder arthroplasty for the treatment of primary degeneration. Dines and Hersch reported their experience with ten patients with a painful total shoulder arthroplasty who were improved with arthroscopic tenotomy or tenodesis.

Conclusion: Our large series confirms that tenodesis of the LHB is preferable during implantation of a humeral prosthesis or a total shoulder prosthesis for the treatment of centred primary joint degeneration with good results that persist over time.