Background: Increased glenoid retroversion occurs in patients with severe arthritis but its effect on baseplate fixation of a reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (rTSA) is not clear. The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of increasing glenoid retroversion on baseplate fixation in rTSA using finite element analysis (FEA) modelling.
Methods: Five sets of computerized tomographic (CT) images of healthy normal shoulders were selected and segmented with Amira (Thermo Fisher Scientific) to obtain the solid geometries. Scapula FEA models with 5°, 10°, 15°, 20° and 25° retroversion angles were generated for each healthy scapula geometry and a rTSA glenoid baseplate was implanted on each model. Maximum stress at the anterior and posterior portions of the glenoid and the micromotion between the bone and baseplate were recorded. After simulation with normal scapular bone material properties (Young's modulus 4GPa and Poisson's ratio 0.3), another set of simulations was run on each subject with a 25° retroversion angle and poor bone quality (Young's modulus 500 MPa and Poisson's ratio 0.3) to study a worst-case scenario. Micromotions in each model were also recorded. All statistical analysis was done with SPSS.
Results: Simulation results of models generated from the same subject but with different retroversion angles showed a clear pattern: as retroversion angle increased, the stresses increased posteriorly and decreased anteriorly. Also, micromotion between the bone and the baseplate increased with the increase of retroversion angle. With analysis of variance (ANOVA), we found that all three values change significantly as the retroversion angle increases (p < 0.001). The simulation results also showed that micromotion was large in shoulders with small glenoid size and poor bone quality. However, even in the model with the worst-case scenario (smallest glenoid size, poorest bone quality and 25° retroversion angle), the maximum micromotion and the maximum stresses are still within the safe range.
Discussion: In all cases with both normal and poor bone quality, the stresses and micromotion stayed below the threshold to allow for bone ingrowth of the glenoid baseplate to occur. Based on these results, for glenoid baseplates with a central peg/post and 4 screws for fixation, rTSA baseplate retroversion does not need to be corrected to less than 10° to provide good initial fixation as has been recommended for a cemented glenoid component and can withstand the initial stresses and micromotion up to 25° of retroversion.
Level of evidence: Basic Science Study; Computer Modeling.
Keywords: finite element analysis; glenoid component; glenoid size; osteoporosis; retroversion angle; reverse total shoulder arthroplasty.