Reconstruction of the articular surface of the humeral head after locked posterior shoulder dislocation: a case report

Posterior dislocations of the glenohumeral joint are extremely rare (2–4% of all shoulder dislocations) and often associated with bone or ligamentary injuries. Though the reverse Hill-Sachs lesion is a common injury associated with posterior shoulder dislocation, there have been only few articles describing specific treatments for this type of humeral head defect. This article describes the successful operative treatment of an acute locked posterior shoulder dislocation by reconstructing the articular surface of the humeral head with the use of autologous bone graft taken from the iliac crest. The patient was doing quite well with no complaints, good range of shoulder motion and no recurrence of posterior shoulder dislocation despite several epileptic seizures, 1.5 years after surgical reconstruction of the anatomy of the humeral head. His right shoulder function revealed to be “excellent” or “good”, assessed with an absolute Constant Score of 76 points and a relative Score of 88% when compared with an age- and sex-matched normal population.