3-D Printing Technique to Aid Surgical Planning in Treatment of Floating Shoulder Injury: A Case Report

The term ‘‘floating shoulder ’’ was introduced by Herscovici in 1992 [1], charactered by ipsilateral scapular neck and clavicular shaft fractures. The definition of ‘floating shoulder’’ has been criticized by many authors, and the widely accepted definition is a double disruption of the superior suspensory shoulder complex (SSSC) [2-5]. SSSC is a bony/soft tissue structure, playing important roles in the stability and some mobility of the shoulder girdle. Therefore, floating shoulder injury (FSI) involves the double destroy of osseous structure and ligament complex as well. Generally, the injury is caused by a highenergy trauma directly onto the shoulder, and traffic accident is one of the most common cases. It’s difficult to manage the trauma without a thorough understanding of the complex anatomy of the shoulder girdle. Current best practice methods are used to obtain a three-dimensional (3D) impression of a injured shoulder joint to plan the operation. Especially, the rapid development of three-dimensional (3D) printing technology has proven efficacy in the fabrication of a shoulder joint with excellent dimensional accuracy. The goal of the preliminary study was explore the feasibility and reality of the low cost 3D printed model in the treatment of FSI. We presented a 18-year-old male patient which suffered FSI. I believe this is the first reported case of a floating shoulder treated by ORIF with the aid of 3-D printing technique.