Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Dec 26, 2020; 8(24): 6450-6455
Published online Dec 26, 2020. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i24.6450
Fracture of the scapular neck combined with rotator cuff tear: A case report
Lei Chen, Cai-Long Liu, Peng Wu
Lei Chen, Cai-Long Liu, Peng Wu, Department of Orthopaedics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou 325000, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: All authors contributed to the study conception and design; Wu P and Chen L performed material preparation and image collection; Wu P, Liu CL, and Chen L carried out the surgical operation; Wu P wrote the first draft of the manuscript; all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript, and read and approved the final manuscript.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest to disclose.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised in accordance with the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Peng Wu, MD, Surgeon, Department of Orthopaedics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Shangcai Village, Nanbaixiang Street, Ouhai District, Wenzhou 325000, Zhejiang Province, China. 676421236@qq.com
Received: August 12, 2020
Peer-review started: August 12, 2020
First decision: August 21, 2020
Revised: August 31, 2020
Accepted: September 25, 2020
Article in press: September 25, 2020
Published online: December 26, 2020
Processing time: 129 Days and 4.7 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Scapular fracture has a low incidence rate, accounting for 0.4%-0.9% of all fractures, and scapular neck fractures are extremely rare, comprising approximately 7%-25% of all scapular fractures. Scapular neck fractures are often studied as case reports mostly accompanied by other injuries, thus leading to confusion. All previous cases of scapular neck fractures are not associated with rotator cuff injuries.

CASE SUMMARY

A 62-year-old man was admitted to our emergency department 6 h after his right shoulder and back were impacted by heavy objects. The patient presented chest tightness and shortness of breath. Chest computed tomography (CT) showed pneumohemothorax, multiple rib fractures, and right scapula fractures. Three-dimensional CT reconstruction of the right shoulder joint showed a trans-spinous scapular neck fracture with a glenohumeral joint dislocation. Rotator cuff injury was suspected because the patient had a glenohumeral joint dislocation and was then confirmed by shoulder magnetic resonance imaging. A staged surgery was performed, including open reduction and internal fixation of the right scapula fracture and repairing of rotator cuff by right shoulder arthroscopy. At the 5-mo follow-up, the fracture line was blurred and the shoulder joint function was good.

CONCLUSION

Fracture of the scapular neck combined with rotator cuff tear is rare and the rotator cuff injury should not be ignored in clinical work. Stable internal fixation combined with secondary arthroscopic repair of rotator cuff tear can achieve good results.

Keywords: Scapular fractures, Scapular neck fractures, Rotator cuff tear, Glenohumeral dislocation, Case report

Core Tip: We describe a patient diagnosed with fracture of the scapular neck combined with rotator cuff tear. Scapular fracture has a low incidence rate and scapular neck fractures are extremely rare. Fracture of the scapular neck combined with rotator cuff tear has not been reported previously. Rotator cuff tear should not be ignored in clinical work when treating this type of fracture. Stable internal fixation combined with secondary arthroscopic repair of rotator cuff tear can achieve good results.