Vertical humeral osteotomy for revision of well-fixed humeral components: case report and operative technique.

The increase in the number of shoulder arthroplasties has also created a paradoxical increase in the number of revision procedures. These revision surgeries can be complicated by well-fixed humeral components that require removal. In this article, we report a representative revision arthroplasty that involved a novel technique, vertical humeral osteotomy, which allowed for safe and effective humeral stem extraction with no need for distal windows, no proximal bone loss, and no need for a long-stemmed prosthesis.