Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to determine what factors contribute to early failure after total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA). Implants were retrieved from 69 patients after failed TSA and were retrospectively assigned to two cohorts based on time of failure : Early, less than 2 years (N = 34) ; and Delayed, longer than 2 years (N = 35). The clinical information, intra-operative information, most recent radiographs, and damage mapping were collected for all patients. Patients in the Early failure group were significantly older (63.9 ± 9.5 years) than those in the Delayed group (49.9 ± 12.8 years) by an average of 14 years. The proportion of osteoarthritis cases was significantly higher for the Early group compared to the Delayed group (62% vs. 40%). The Delayed group had higher damage scores for several damage modalities. Elderly age and osteoarthritis were significant factors that were associated with early failures after TSA.