Sunday, February 14, 2016

Chondrolysis in a young woman - how can this be managed?

An athletic young woman in her mid 20s was diagnosed with multidirectional instability of her right shoulder. She was treated by surgeons in another state with an arthroscopic anterior and posterior capsulorrhaphy. Three years later she had a repeat surgery after which a pain pump was used to infuse local anesthetics. Eight years later she had a subacromial decompression and biceps tenodesis. At that time glenohumeral chondromalacia was identified. The shoulder was debrided and the repair sutures removed. Five months later another subacromial decompression was performed along with a distal clavicle excision. She had persistent stiffness and pain. At the time of her presentation to us - twelve years after her first surgery - she had flexion limited to 90 degrees, pain ranging from 7-10 on a scale of 10, and reported the inability to perform any of the twelve functions of the Simple Shoulder Test

Her x-rays  show the characteristic appearance of chondrolysis (see this link).





How can this best be managed? 

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