Humeral internal rotation osteotomy for the treatment of Erb-Duchenne-type obstetric palsy: clinical and radiographic results

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the functional and radiographic results in patients undergoing shoulder anterior soft tissue stretching in association with open reduction and internal rotation osteotomy to centralize the humeral head as a treatment for Erb-Duchenne obstetric palsy sequelae. METHOD A total of 35 patients underwent this surgical treatment, and the mean follow-up was 4.6 years. The Mallet scale was applied before and after the surgical procedure. A total of 20 patients underwent computed tomography to assess the glenoid version and humeral head subluxation. RESULTS Functional improvement was achieved, as evidenced by an increase in the Mallet scale score from 12.14 to 16.46 (p<0.001). The correction of retroversion was achieved once the glenoid version ranged from -21.4 to -12 degrees (p<0.001). The humeral head subluxation improved from 6.5 to 35.2% (p<0.001). Patients older than 6 years of age did not achieve glenohumeral joint improvement with respect to dysplastic abnormalities. CONCLUSION Internal rotation osteotomy in association with the stretching of anterior soft tissues of the shoulder in patients under the age of 7 years provided improvements in the function, retroversion, and subluxation of the glenohumeral joint.