The study, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), has found that reverse total shoulder replacements (RTSR) provide similar long-term outcomes to traditional anatomical total shoulder replacements (TSR) for patients aged 60 years or older with osteoarthritis (OA) and intact rotator cuff tendons.
Shoulder OA is a common and debilitating condition, and shoulder replacement surgery is an effective treatment option for end-stage disease. TSR has long been considered the gold standard for treating patients with OA and intact rotator cuff tendons. However, the RTSR has surged in popularity since 2008 in the UK. Originally designed for a completely different surgical indication, it is now often used instead of TSR in this patient group.
This shift in practice is growing despite a lack of supporting evidence, and in 2020, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) identified this as a key research priority. Researchers from NDORMS, University of Oxford, set out to provide high-quality evidence to help address this uncertainty.
Read the full story on the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics and Musculoskeletal Sciences.