Surgical treatment of shoulder joint posterior dislocation secondary to internal rotation contractnre deformity in brachial plexus birth palsy / 中华显微外科杂志

ABSTRACT

ObjectiveTo observe the functional recovery of shoulder joint and the reduction of posterior dislocated humeral head in children with shoulder joint internal rotation contracture and humeral head posterior dislocation secondary to brachial plexus birth palsy treated by a modified surgical procedure through the anterior combined posterior approach of the shoulder. MethodsNinteen patients,ranging in age from 2.5 to 8.5 years (average 5 years),suffered posterior dislocation of the shoulder joint secondary to internal rotation contracture in brachial plexus birth palsy. The gleno-humeral joint deformity was confirmed by X-ray and CT examination and classified as type Ⅳ in 15 eases and typeⅤin 4 cases according to the modified water's criteria.The surgical procedure was as followsthe contracture soft tissue around the anterior of shoulder joint was released firstly through the anterior approach, and the posterior-inferior capsule of the shoulder was exposed and separated with the pseudoglenoid through the posterior approach,the humeral head was reduced by external rotation the arm,then the posterior-inferior capsule was retighten.A plaster cast was used to fix the shoulder at the neutral position of 0° for 4 weeks. ResultsAfter 12 to 36 months follow up(average of 20 months), the Mallet score of the shoulder was from 11.4 ± 1.7 (range 7-16)preoperative to 15.5 ± 1.8(range 13-19) postoperative,the difference was significantly (P ＜ 0.05).The central relocation of humeral head was achieved in 16 patients, but the humeral head was still dislocated to posterior in 3 cases.ConclusionsThe posterior-inferior capsule was separated with the pseudo-glenoid and retighten through the posterior approach,and reduction of the humeral head by soft tissue releaseing through the anterior approach can recover the concentric relationship of gleno-humeral joint and improve the function of shoulder joint with posterior dislocation secondary to internal rotated contracture deformity in brachial plexus birth palsy.