The purpose of this prospective database is to investigate the long-term functional status of patients who have undergone various types of shoulder surgery. Patients are asked to respond to questionnaires prior to surgery and at various post-operative visits in an attempt to quantify their functional outcomes. Responses are then linked to other data such as symptoms, prior treatments, previous surgery, complications, radiographic results, etc. These data may then be used as a basis for devising guidelines for future patients and surgeons.

Population

Primary care clinic

Brief Title

Functional Outcomes Following Shoulder Surgery: A Prospective Database

Official Title

Functional Outcome Following Shoulder Surgery: A Prospective Database

Brief Summary

The purpose of this prospective database is to investigate the long-term functional status of <br /> patients who have undergone various types of shoulder surgery. Patients are asked to respond <br /> to questionnaires prior to surgery and at various post-operative visits in an attempt to <br /> quantify their functional outcomes. Responses are then linked to other data such as symptoms, <br /> prior treatments, previous surgery, complications, radiographic results, etc. These data may <br /> then be used as a basis for devising guidelines for future patients and surgeons.

Detailed Description

The purpose of the prospective database is to initiate data collection for a group of
patients undergoing surgery of the shoulder. Long-term data collection will include
information on the functional status of the patients' shoulder as well as quality of life
information and radiographic results. The database will be an essential element in the
development of an academic shoulder service at the University of Ottawa. Many areas in
shoulder surgery are in their infancy in terms of minimally invasive techniques. Several
large areas require substantial research in order to refine decision making. The database
will allow these questions to be answered using a retrospective model and will provide the
background information required to mount larger scale randomized controlled trials. The
nature of the database information collection will also allow meaningful research to be
completed by the residents in the program in a timely and cost-effective manner. This will be
in keeping with the training requirements in Orthopedic surgery and will help promote
interest in the area of research for the trainees.The following are examples of questions
that the database information could answer through research:

1. Does the length of time taken to access Orthopedic care influence the outcome of surgery
in rotator cuff disease? in instability? in arthritis?

2. How does the choice of implant in arthroplasty affect outcome (stemmed implants versus
resurfacing arthroplasty)?

3. In subscapularis repair, does technique influence outcome (open subscapularis repair
versus arthroscopic subscapularis repair)?

Outcome Measures

Outcome measures are the tests that investigators perform to prove whether or not a treatment being tested in a clinical trial is having any effect.