Clinical and functional evaluation of patients submitted to reverse arthroplasty with minimum one year of follow-up.

Objective: To assess the clinical and functional results of patients submitted to reverse arthroplasty with a minimum follow-up of one year.

Methods: Twenty-two patients submitted to shoulder reverse arthroplasty by the Surgery and Shoulder Rehabilitation Group were retrospectively evaluated with pre and postoperative imaging analysis, analog pain scale, range of motion, and ASES functional score.

Results: Out of 19 (86.3%) patients with preoperative ASES classified as poor/bad, 11 (57.9%) progress to good/excellent after intervention, showing improvement of function, ranging from a mean preoperative ASES score of 22 (± 18.8) to a postoperative mean of 64.8 (± 27.7) ( p  = 0.031). Regarding the pain, there was an improvement in analog pain scale, presenting a preoperative mean of 7.64 (1-10) and a postoperative mean of 2.09 (0-7; p  < 0.001). Regarding mobility, of 22 patients, 15 (68.2%) had preoperative pseudoparalysis and, of these, ten (66.7%) had an active anterior elevation greater than 90° after reverse arthroplasty. In turn, patients without pseudoparalysis had no significant gain in range of motion ( p  = 0.002). The authors observed active anterior elevation gain, with a preoperative mean of 76° (0-160°) and a postoperative mean of 111° (0-160°; p  = 0.002).

Conclusion: Despite being a relatively new procedure in Brazil, reverse shoulder arthroplasty can be used effectively and safely in patients who were previously without treatment options such as rotator cuff arthropathy and revisions providing pain relief, improvement of function, and mobility of the upper limb.