Management of haemarthrosis induced anterior shoulder dislocation with arthroscopic washout and haemostasis

Abstract

Spontaneous heamarthrosis is a known and previously described complication of anticoagulant therapy. The knee and the shoulder joints are amongst the most commonly affected joints [1,2].Subsequent dislocation/subluxation of the shoulder is also previously described reporting acute anterior shoulder dislocation complicating a non-traumatic haemarthrosis [3], and a further report of a severely subluxed glenohumeral joint that was initially mis-diagnosed as anterior atraumatic dislocation [4]. Both cases were treated by aspiration of the joint, with supplementary manipulation required in the former.Here we report the additional use of shoulder arthroscopy and haemostasis to achieve concentric reduction of an atraumatic shoulder dislocation secondary to heamarthrosis, in a patient on warfarin. Keywords: Haemarthrosis, Shoulder dislocation, Arthroscopy, Haemostasis