Study: Reverse total shoulder replacement long-term outcomes similar to traditional surgery

Editor's Note

Research suggests patients qualifying for surgical treatment of osteoarthritis (OA) could benefit just as much from reverse total shoulder replacements (RTSR) as traditional anatomical total shoulder replacement (TSR). Led by the University of Oxford and involving researchers from the University of Bristol, the data appeared April 30 in the BMJ.

According to a May 2 report on the study in MedicalXpress, RTSR had been growing in popularity despite a lack of supporting evidence. In 2020, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) identified this as a key research priority.

The new data apply to patients aged 60 in older with intact rotator cuff tendons—a group traditional treated with traditional TSR. Including more than 12,000 such patients who underwent procedures between 2012 and 2020, the population-based cohort study involved data from the National Joint Registry and NHS Hospital Episode Statistics for England. “The findings revealed that while TSR had a higher risk of revision surgery in the first three years after surgery, there was no important difference in the longer term, and both procedures were equally safe for patients,” MedicalXpress reports.