History: 83-yr-old man suffered from acute, three-part communited fracture of proximal humerus.
Case: Fixation with plate screw would have been a futile exercise on 83-yr-old with weak bones and high quality fracture. A Hemi Replacement would fail too because of the absence of the cuff. Hence a Reverse Shoulder Replacement was performed on the patient.
In Reverse Shoulder Replacement, the entire biomechanical of the shoulder is changed to adapt to the absent cuff. So the glenoid is replaced with a ball and the humerus is replaced with a socket called glenosphere.
The surgery is good for patients because it is painless and the patient can be easily mobilized without having to actually wait for tuberosities to unite.
