Cuff tear arthropathy: Current trends in diagnosis and surgical management

Summary: Massive tears of the rotator cuff resulting in arthritis of the glenohumeral joint remain a difficult challenge. Although cuff tear arthropathy (CTA) has been recognized for more than 150 years, a treatment strategy with uniformly satisfactory outcomes remains elusive, partly due to the difficulty in defining CTA in the literature. Most studies combine true CTA, rheumatoid arthritis, and massive rotator cuff tears under the CTA diagnosis. Determining outcomes from these studies is difficult. Hemiarthroplasty and total shoulder arthroplasty have led to pain relief, but the high rate of glenoid component loosening after total shoulder arthroplasty is a concern, and active range of motion remains limited after hemiarthroplasty. There is increasing interest in the use of a constrained or reverese total shoulder arthroplasty to treat this complex process, with promising early results. This review article studies current trends in the diagnosis and management of arthritis due to massive cuff tears and CTA. Level of evidence: Non-systematic review article.