Case report
Atraumatic scapular fractures in the setting of chronic rotator cuff tear arthropathy: A report of two cases

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Patient 1

An 80-year-old, right-hand-dominant woman, with a history of polymyalgia rheumatica and breast cancer treated with lumpectomy and radiation therapy in 1999, was diagnosed with a right rotator cuff tear that was confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging in 2003. Approximately 1 year after the onset of shoulder pain, the pain worsened. She described the pain as worse with activity and located over the posterior aspect of her right scapula. She denied any trauma.

Physical examination revealed no

Discussion

Rotator cuff tears alter the forces that compress the humeral head toward the glenoid and result in altered kinematics of the glenohumeral joint.11 In 1983, Neer et al6 introduced the term rotator cuff tear arthropathy and described the mechanism of how a large cuff tear could lead to violation of the coracoacromial arch. The abnormally directed forces on the glenoid lead to altered loading of the bone, and the stress can lead to subsequent fracture.

The load transfer between the humeral head

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References (11)

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Cited by (11)

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