Postoperative outcomes of third-generation shoulder hemiarthroplasties for three-and four-part proximal humeral fractures: A systematic review of published studies from 2012 to 2022.

BACKGROUND

The aim of this study was to provide up-to-date evidence on the outcomes for hemiarthroplasties (HAs) that were performed using modern third-generation prostheses (post-2004) for isolated excluding head-splits and fracture-dislocations) three-and four-part proximal humerus fractures (PHFs).

METHODS

PubMed, Medline, Embase and the Cochrane register were searched from January 1, 2012, to November 15, 2022, conforming to the PRISMA guidelines. The outcome measures were the complication rates, revision rates, surgery-related postoperative mortality, post-operative clinical outcome scores and radiological outcomes.

RESULTS

432 hemiarthroplasties in 432 patients were performed across the 11 eligible studies (two prospective and 9 retrospective). Three studies compared HA versus reverse shoulder replacement (RSR); one study compared HA with locking plate fixation (LPF) and RSR; one study compared HA with LPF. 61.1 % and 19.4 % of hemiarthroplasties were performed using cemented and uncemented techniques respectively, while cementing data was ill-defined in 19.4 % of shoulders. The results for the outcome measures have been derived directly from the included studies and no statistical pooling was performed, due to heterogeneity in the different study designs and outcomes. Descriptive data synthesis from the included studies showed that third generation HAs have higher overall postoperative complication rates, with similar revision and mortality rates when compared to RSR and LPF for three-and four-part PHFs. RSR and LPF showed better statistically significant improvements than HA for the Constant-Murley score, Quick DASH, forward flexion and abduction. Mixed results were observed for the DASH score, ASES score and internal rotation ROM between RSR/LPF versus HA.

CONCLUSION

Low to moderate quality evidence from this review showed that even third-generation HA prostheses provided worse overall outcomes than RSR and LPF for three-and four-part PHFs.