Abstract
Sixty eight consecutive patients underwent proximal humeral replacement with a fixed fulcrum massive endoprosthesis, for tumour, between 1997 and 2007. The mean age was 46 years, (7–87). Ten patients were lost to follow up and 16 patients died. The 42 surviving patients were assessed using the Musculoskeletal Tumour Society (MSTS) Score and the Toronto Extremity Salvage Score (TESS). The mean MSTS score was 72.3% and the mean TESS was 77.2%.
Four of 42 patients received a new constrained humeral liner to reduce the risk of dislocation. This sub group of 4 patients had a mean MSTS score of 77.7% and a mean TESS of 80.0%.
Endoprosthetic replacement for tumour of the proximal humerus using this prosthesis is a reliable operation yielding good functional results without the documented problems of unconstrained prostheses. The performance of this prosthesis is expected to improve further with the new constrained humeral liner.
