Influence of preoperative factors on timing for bilateral shoulder arthroplasty.

Abstract Introduction In bilateral shoulder arthroplasty patients, it is unclear what features are responsible for the timing of their contralateral shoulder arthroplasty. This study hypothesized that patient factors (age, gender, hand dominance), disease factors (diagnosis, radiographic severity of contralateral shoulder), and surgical factors (type of arthroplasty) impact timing to contralateral surgery. Methods A retrospective review of 332 patients treated with bilateral anatomic (TSA) or reverse (RSA) shoulder arthroplasty (172 TSA/TSA, 107 RSA/RSA, or 53 TSA/RSA) were divided into groups depending on the interval timing between arthroplasty surgeries: group 1 – 142 (≤1 year), group 2 – 62 (1-2 years), and group 3 – 128 (≥2 years). Preoperative factors were analyzed to determine associations between different time groups, including age, gender, hand dominance, diagnosis, radiographic severity of contralateral shoulder, and type of surgery. Bilateral diagnoses included: 211 Osteoarthritis (OA), 36 cuff tear arthropathy (CTA), 13 inflammatory arthritis, 12 massive cuff tears without OA, and 4 avascular necrosis. Results OA patients had their contralateral shoulder arthroplasty sooner than CTA patients (p=0.035). OA patients with arthritic changes on contralateral radiographs prior to the first arthroplasty had their contralateral arthroplasty sooner than those without contralateral radiographs (p Discussion This study confirmed our hypothesis identifying preoperative variables associated with different time intervals between arthroplasties. The preoperative factors associated with the highest likelihood of having contralateral shoulder arthroplasty within one year included: OA, radiographic bilateral shoulder disease, and TSA for the first surgery. Level of Evidence Level II; Retrospective Design; Prognosis Study