Abstract

Locked posterior shoulder dislocations are uncommon and pose many difficulties in diagnosis. They are often overlooked during initial examination and delayed diagnosis adversely affects healing process. Apart from many open treatment options there are reports of single attempts to treat such cases arthroscopically. We present an original case of a posterior locked dislocation of the shoulder joint with a fracture of the lesser tuberosity followed by reverse Hill-Sachs fracture, treated in a novel fashion all-arthroscopically with the use of allogeneic bone graft. According to Constant Shoulder Score that tries to asses’ functional and subjective performance of the shoulder joint before the operation and after 12 months, we achieved a leap from 11% to 84%. The patient restored almost full range of motion and painless movement in activities of daily life as well as during sports. The use of an arthroscope reduces the invasiveness of the procedure, improves visualization of the joint and allows augmentation of the bone loss without performing an open approach. We believe that this is a promising method of treatment for selected cases of locked posterior shoulder dislocation.

Keywords: Locked posterior shoulder dislocation; Arthroscopy; Bone graft; Case report