Introduction: The anterolateral acromion approach of the shoulder is popular for minimally invasive plate osteosynthesis (MIPO) technique. However, there are literatures describing the specific risks of injury of the axillary nerve using this approach. Nevertheless, most of the studies were done with Caucasian cadavers. So, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the risk of iatrogenic axillary nerve injury from using the anterolateral shoulder approach and further investigate the location of the axillary nerve, associated with its location and arm length in the Asian population that have shorter arm length compared to the Caucasian population. Materials and Methods: Seventy-nine shoulders in fourty-two embalmed cadavers were evaluated. The bony landmarks were drawn, and a vertical straight incision was made 5cm from tip of the acromion (anterolateral approach), to the bone. The iatrogenic nerve injury status and the distance between the anterolateral edge of the acromion to the axillary nerve was measured and recorded. Results: In ten of the seventy-nine shoulders, the axillary nerve were iatrogenically injured. The average anterior distance was 6.4cm and the average arm length was 30.2cm. The anterior distance and arm length ratio was 0.2. Conclusion: Our results demonstrated that the recommended safe zone at 5cm from tip of acromion was not suitable with Asian population due to shorter arm length, compared to Caucasian population. The location of axillary nerve could be predicted by 20% of the total arm-length.
Arthroscopic sub acromial debridement surgery with acromioplasty is one of the shoulder surgeries performed to treat chronic shoulder pain. This surgical procedure is usually indicated in sub acromial impingement syndrome of shoulder, degenerative rotator cuff tears, severe functional limitation of shoulder joint and often surgery was performed in cases where all the conservative management had failed in the treatment of chronic shoulder pain. Even though the patient would be referred for early rehabilitation, post operative management of this surgical condition is highly challenging. Movement of the shoulder joint is often related with scapulo-thoracic joint, acromio-clavicular joint and sternoclavicular joint and the shoulder movements are governed by various different muscular forces from these joints. Failure to understand this biomechanical complexity of shoulder joint during post operative rehabilitation results in failure of the surgical outcome and might cause severe functional limitation with recurrent shoulder pain. Often in clinical practice, greater emphasis is given to achieve and regain movements in shoulder joint at the expense of the joint stability. However, inadequate scapular stability might further predispose the shoulder joint to excessive loading and results in repetitive injuries leading to chronic shoulder pain. This might affect the surgical and clinical outcome of the acromioplasty and result in surgical failure. Hence, surgeons and clinicians need to understand the biomechanical contributions in the post operative rehabilitation of the shoulder joint. The present case report emphasises the biomechanical model of post operative rehabilitation of a patient who had arthroscopic sub acromial debridement with acromioplasty.
Introduction: Various treatment modalities are available but no consensus has been reached for optimal treatment of lateral third clavicle fractures. Precontoured locking plates with broad lateral end for multiple screws fixation is a newly designed plate for lateral third clavicle fractures. The objective of our study was to analyse the functional outcomes as well as complications of this technique in a significant number of cases with long follow-up duration. Materials and Methods: Forty-six patients with distal third clavicle fractures were treated by precontoured clavicular locking plate with broad lateral end. Functional outcomes were assessed on the basis of Constant-Murley Shoulder Outcome Score and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Shoulder Rating Score, active shoulder range of motion, time for fracture union and coraco-clavicular distance. Results: The mean Constant-Murley score was 92.56±4.47 (range: 79-98) for injured side and 96.22±2.23 (range: 90-100) for normal side with p-Value 0.56. Mean coraco-clavicular distance at final follow-up was 10.52±1.13 mm (range 9.7 to 11.7 mm) in injured side and 10.25±0.98 mm (range 9.6 to 11.2 mm) in normal side. Mean UCLA Shoulder Rating Score was 32.55±2.12 (range: 27-34) for injured side and 33.46±1.88 (range: 31- 35) on normal side with p value 0.58. No major complications that necessitated revision of surgery occurred in our study. Conclusion: This newly designed plate seemed extremely useful in successful union of lateral third clavicle fractures, with reduced rate of complications like fixation failures, iatrogenic rotator cuff injury, AC joint osteoarthritis and sub-acromial bursitis, with good functional outcomes.
Introduction: The aims of this study are to define the coracoid process anatomy in a Malaysian population, carried out on patients in Hospital Serdang with specific emphasis on the dimension of the base of coracoid process which is important in coraco-acromial (CC) ligament reconstruction, to define the average amount of bone available for use in coracoid transfer, and to compare the size of coracoid process based on gender and race, and with findings in previous studies. Materials and Methods: Fifteen pairs of computed tomography (CT) based 3-dimensional models of shoulders of patients aged between 20 to 60 years old were examined. The mean dimensions of coracoid were measured and compared with regards to gender and race. The data were also compared to previously published studies. Results: The mean length of the coracoid process was 37.94 ± 4.30 mm. Male subjects were found to have larger-sized coracoids in all dimensions as compared to female subjects. The mean tip of coracoid dimension overall was 19.99 + 1.93mm length × 10.03 + 1.48mm height × 11.63 + 2.12mm width. The mean base of coracoid dimension was 18.96 + 3.71mm length × 13.84 + 1.76mm width. No significant differences were observed with regards to racial denomination. The overall coracoid size measurements were found to be smaller compared to previous studies done on the Western population. Conclusion: This study may suggest that Malaysians have smaller coracoid dimension compared to Caucasians. The findings further suggest that the incidence of coracoid fracture and implants pull out in Malaysian subjects may be higher.