The management of bilateral posterior fracture dislocations of the shoulder: a case series illustrating management options

Background Although dislocation of the shoulder is a relatively common event, the overwhelming majority of injuries are anterior. Posterior shoulder dislocation is more uncommon, comprising between 3% and 5% of all shoulder dislocations. One percent of shoulder dislocations involve a fracture, whereas only 0.9% of the 1500 cases reported by Neer ( J Bone Joint Surg Am 1970; 52:1077–89; J Bone Joint Surg Am 1970; 52:1090–103) concerned posterior fracture dislocations. Bilateral posterior fracture dislocation is an even rarer event, comprising just 5% of all posterior fracture dislocations. Given the rarity and relative poor outcome often observed after these severe injuries, it is important that upper limb function is optimized. Methods Bilateral posterior fracture dislocations of the shoulder pose a difficult clinical challenge that requires careful management planning. To date, there have been three isolated case reports of using contralateral osteochondral humeral autograft and hemiarthroplasty. We report our experiences and clinical outcomes in managing four such cases using a variety and combination of treatments, including the first reported use of reverse shoulder arthroplasty with contralateral osteochondral humeral autografting. Results Shoulders reconstructed with humeral autograft demonstrated superior Oxford Shoulder Scores and an improved range of motion, as measured by a markerless machine vision system, compared to hemiarthroplasty. Conclusions Our results support the use of a contralateral humeral autograft in bilateral posterior shoulder fracture dislocation. </jats:sec

Innovative use of computer-assisted tomography in the management of an irreducible anterior shoulder dislocation.

Anterior dislocation of the shoulder is a common injury which is often reduced in the emergency department, without specialist orthopedic input. We report a case of an irreducible locked anterior glenohumeral dislocation with impaction of the humeral head onto the antero-inferior glenoid rim and subsequent generation of a Hill-Sachs lesion. To our knowledge, we describe the first reported case of using computer-assisted tomography to generate a sequence of movements to safely disimpact the locked dislocation without causing further iatrogenic injury or a fracture through the humeral articular surface. This novel image-assisted closed reduction technique spared the patient from the morbidity associated with performing open reduction surgery. At 6-month follow-up, the patient reported no re-dislocations, returned to work and had excellent range of motion