Background: Between 1980 and 1997, six patients (seven shoulders) with glenoid dysplasia and osteoarthritis underwent shoulder arthroplasty at our institution because of moderate or severe shoulder pain. There were four hemiarthroplasties and three total shoulder arthroplasties.

Methods: All six patients (seven shoulders) were followed for a minimum of two years or until the time of revision surgery. The average duration of follow-up was 7.3 years (range, 1.3 to sixteen years).

Results: One shoulder treated with total shoulder arthroplasty underwent revision surgery because of infection and loosening of the glenoid component 5.8 years following the arthroplasty. Three shoulders treated with hemiarthroplasty underwent revision to total shoulder arthroplasty as a result of glenoid arthrosis at sixteen months, twenty months, and thirty-four months. In each of these shoulders, glenoid deficiency and cartilage loss were not addressed at the time of the original hemiarthroplasty. The one shoulder that did not undergo revision after hemiarthroplasty had a glenoid osteotomy performed at the time of the hemiarthroplasty.

Conclusions: The data from this study suggest that glenoid deficiency and cartilage wear should be addressed in some way at the time of shoulder arthroplasty in patients with glenoid dysplasia.