RESEARCH ARTICLE
Arthroscopic Management of Shoulder Osteoarthritis
Michael S George, M.D*
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2008Volume: 2
First Page: 23
Last Page: 26
Publisher ID: TOORTHJ-2-23
DOI: 10.2174/1874325000802010023
Article History:
Received Date: 10/9/2007Revision Received Date: 23/10/2007
Acceptance Date: 5/2/2008
Electronic publication date: 21/2/2008
Collection year: 2008

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/), which permits unrestrictive use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Osteoarthritis (OA) can cause severe pain and dysfunction of the shoulder. When conservative treatment fails and operative treatments such as shoulder arthroplasty and open glenohumeral resurfacing are not advisable, shoulder arthroscopy may be used to treat shoulder OA. Arthroscopic treatment of concomitant pathology in the shoulder including subacromial decompression, labral repair, capsular release, microfracture, and distal clavicle excision have been shown to yield good results when combined with glenohumeral debridement in the treatment of shoulder OA. Arthroscopic glenohumeral resurfacing has recently been described and has shown encouraging results. Arthroscopic treatment appears to have better results in shoulders with a lesser degree of osteoarthritis.