Reverse Total Shoulder Arthroplasty Found Beneficial for Older Adults Without Arthritis

A study in Orthopedics suggests that reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (RTSA) may benefit people older than 60 with chronic rotator cuff tears without glenohumeral arthritis, reports Healio . "An increasing number of studies support the effectiveness of RTSA in treating older patients who have chronic irreparable rotator cuff tear RCT without arthritis, as measured by a wide number of outcomes, including pain, active forward flexion, and to a lesser extent, external rotation motion," the researchers wrote. The authors analyzed data from a retrospective review between 2007 and 2015 of persons diagnosed without chronic shoulder arthritis, identifying 428,651 individuals with chronic RCT without arthritis; 84.9 percent received nonoperative treatment, 12.5 percent received RCR, and 2.6 percent received RTSA. Subjects between 60 and 79 years old had a 70.8 percent rate of surgical intervention, with 69.2 percent undergoing RCR and 78.4 percent receiving RTSA. A three-fold increase in RTSA use was observed in those 60 or older versus those younger than 60. The overall revision rate at two years was 13 percent for subjects between 60 and 79 years who received RCR compared to people of the same age who underwent RTSA. The researchers noted consistent revision rates over time following RCR, while revision rates for RTSA declined significantly.