Resurfacing-type Humeral Head Replacement

March 9th, 2007

Humeral head resurfacing is the newest “twist” to Hemiarthroplasty. It literally involves “capping” the worn cartilage of the “Ball”. It’s intrigue centers around the fact that it is less complicated a procedure—it takes less than 1 hour to perform and does not require removing the entire head, thus avoiding a stemmed implant. Similar trends are emerging in the treatment of the arthritic hip—as it appears that intramedullary fixation with a stemmed impant may not be necessary. Indeed, when it comes to Resurfacing an arthritic shoulder—“simpler may be better”. The early literature seems to validate the value of this approach—and “less may be more” because of the avoidance not only of a glenoid component, but also the need to use a stemmed implant, which results in potentially more blood loss and the risk of fracture during insertion. This is clearly an evolving story, but may ultimately transform the area of shoulder replacement—enabling tremendous pain relief and functional return with an operation that takes less than 1 hour (see Resurfacing-type replacement case example).

Related Photos:

Preoperative X-Ray

Post Operation X-Ray

Forward flexion 1 year after surgery

External rotation 1 year after surgery

Related Videos:

Outcome after resurfacing 1 year after surgery

6 month outcome assessment following resurfacing arthroplasty

Another 1 year outcome attestation