The second shoulder OP: Will you come out better?
Hello
The sad reality of a lot of we see at our practice is when someone chooses to go for the first surgery, they will then go for many more.
It seems to us that surgeries,even if they are performed perfectly, still cause permanent damage that leads to more issues in the future.
This week we are going to look at a research paper that looks at what happens to the personafter the first failed surgery.
The name of the study is “Clinical outcomes and complications of reverse shoulder arthroplasty used for failed prior shoulder surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis”. A systematic review being the best evidence there is.
The study looked at “A total of 43 studies (1041 shoulder arthroplasties) met the inclusion criteria, with a mean follow-up period of 43.8 months”.
They found that “Pain scores improved in all groups; however, none reached statistical significance.” Meaning the improvement was so small, that it cannot be trusted as effective.
“Pooled complication rates were highest in the failed RSA group (56.2%), followed by the group undergoing HA for other indications (27.7%), total shoulder arthroplasty group (23.6%), soft-tissue repair group (20.6%), open reduction and internal fixation group (19.0%), and group undergoing HA for fracture (13.6%).”
Look at how high those rates of complications are.
The researchers determined that “Reversion Reverse Shoulder replacement for failed partial replacement demonstrated the most favorable outcomes, whereas the highest complication and revision rates were observed in the RSA subgroup.”
When we are thinking about your life and your ability to use your arm, would you like those odds? Or most favorable? Considering all the potential risks?
Or do you want to try something else?
Jason
