Healio
Healio
April 25, 2014
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Study assesses relationship between humeral head alignment, glenoid retroversion

A strong linear relationship exists between glenoid retroversion and the center of the humeral head in relation to the center line of the scapula, but humeral head alignment in relation to the glenoid plane is variable and not strongly correlated with the amount of glenoid retroversion, according to results of a recently published study.

“Our results demonstrated a direct relationship between glenoid retroversion and humeral head alignment when related to the plane of the scapula. The alignment of the humeral head in relation to the perpendicular of the glenoid plane is not correlated with absolute glenoid version or the amount of bone loss. This suggests to us that the relationship of the humeral head to the glenoid depends on factors other than the osseous anatomy or changes in the glenoid plane,” Vani J. Sabesan, MD, and colleagues wrote in the study.

Researchers studied 60 patients with advanced glenohumeral osteoarthritis who had shoulder arthroplasty from 2005 to 2010. All of the patients had preoperative CT scans. A control group of 15 patients was also included in the study, with the patients having received bilateral CT imaging as part of a previous study.

Three-dimensional reconstructions of preoperative CT images were performed and six anatomical landmarks were selected to define the plane of the glenoid fossa and the plane of the scapular body. According to the published data, the average glenoid retroversion for normal shoulder was -3.5° and the average humeral-scapular alignment offset was -2.3%. Researchers also found that for normal shoulders, the average humeral-glenoid alignment offset was 0.5 mm with an average humeral-glenoid alignment offset of 0.9%.

“Our results demonstrated a linear relationship between glenoid retroversion and humeral head alignment as measured from the plane of the scapula, whereas there was no correlation between glenoid retroversion and humeral head alignment measured in relation to the glenoid plane,” Sabesan and colleagues wrote in the study.

Disclosure: The authors have no relevant financial disclosures.

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Source:

Sabesan VJ. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2014;doi:10.2106/JBJS.L.00856