Painless Shoulder

Reported January 2006

ATLANTA (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Millions of people are living with a pain so debilitating they can't even lift their arms. Until now, treatment for a torn rotator cuff or shoulder arthritis was limited. A new invention may give patients the relief they're looking for.

Ann Remite, an arthritis patient, says, "It's like a drill, a sharp, shooting pain and the pain goes up into your neck." Ann's arthritis took away her ability to do just about everything, including crochet. "It just wasn't worth it, so I gave it up."

Her doctor suggested RSP or reverse shoulder prosthesis to relieve her pain. Spero Karas, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon at Emory University in Atlanta, says, "With the reverse shoulder prosthesis, the classic ball-and-socket shape of the joint is basically reversed."

The shoulder is made up of a ball and socket joint and a rotator cuff. The ball connects to the arm; the socket connects to the shoulder blade. The rotator cuff is muscle that surrounds the joint and helps lift and rotate the arm. In patients suffering from a torn rotator cuff or arthritis, however, this protection is gone, and bone painfully scrapes against bone.

With the new procedure, Dr. Karas says, "Instead of the ball being on the arm side, now we see a socket on the arm side, and the ball is actually on the shoulder side, or the socket side."

"What the reverse prosthesis does -- is allows us to stabilize the shoulder, normalize the center of rotation, thus improving function and relieving pain," Dr. Karas says.

The surgery takes 90 minutes. Ann had a full recovery in four months. "I can wash windows. I can crochet. I can do everything I did before my arm went bad, and I have no pain." No pain and she's back to doing what she loves.

Surgeons in Europe have been performing reverse shoulder arthroplasty for 15 years with excellent results. After several years of clinical trials, the FDA recently approved the procedure for patients in the United States. Physicians in America have seen excellent success rates for up to seven years with the device.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Janet M. Christenbury
Associate Director of Media Relations
Emory University
The Woodruff Health Sciences Center
1440 Clifton Road, Suite 105
Atlanta, GA 30322
(404) 727-8599

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