Fifty-six Dana unconstrained total shoulder arthroplasties in
forty-seven patients were followed for a minimum of two years. The
preoperative diagnoses included osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis,
traumatic arthritis, avascular necrosis, failed hemiarthroplasty, and
failed total shoulder arthroplasty of another design. For all of the
patients, the average rating for pain improved from 3 points preoperatively
to 8 points postoperatively, and the average rating for function improved
from 3 to 7 points. The ranges of abduction and of external rotation
improved substantially in the shoulders that were affected by
osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, or osteonecrosis. Ten patients were
treated with a hooded glenoid component, designed to improve stability in
shoulders in which the rotator cuff is deficient. In these shoulders, both
the rating for pain and the rating for function improved, although the
range of motion did not. Complications that required revision of the
arthroplasty developed in five shoulders in which a regular component had
been implanted and in two that had a hooded glenoid component. A
radiolucent line developed at the bone-cement interface of the glenoid
component in fifty-three shoulders, but only two revisions were done for
loosening of the glenoid component.