Weaver-Dunn procedure

This is a generally successful type of surgery involved in the treatment of severe separated shoulders developed by James K. Weaver, M.D., Albuquerque, NM , and Harold K. Dunn, M.D., Salt Lake City, UT in the early 1970s. [cite journal
journal= Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery
title = Treatment of Acromioclavicular Injuries, Especially Complete Acromioclavicular Separation
volume = 54
pages = 1187–1194
date = 1972
url = http://www.ejbjs.org/cgi/content/abstract/54/6/1187
format = Reprint
author = James K. Weaver, Harold K. Dunn] The procedure is done to essentially replace the coracoclavicular ligaments with a sacrificed ligament.

There is currently no "gold standard" surgery to repair acromioclavicular separations, and many surgeries have been created. However, this is one of the more common fixes.

The original surgery is described as follows.

# Resection of the distal 2cm of distal clavicle
# Detaching the acromial end of the coracoacromial ligament, and possibly shortening it.
# Attaching the remaining ligament to the remaining clavicle with sutures.

Modern variations of the procedure may use additional fixation methods to better stabilize the distal clavicle end as the original construction is rather weak compared to the unharmed shoulder. Even with these modifications, the modern surgeries do not match intact coracoclavicular ligament strength in cadaveric testing. [cite journal
journal= Am J Sports Med.
title = Stability of acromioclavicular joint reconstruction: biomechanical testing of various surgical techniques in a cadaveric model.
volume = 32
issue = 6Unicode|
pages = 1492–8
date = Original print 2004 Sep. Epub 2004 Jul 20
pmid = 15310576
author = Deshmukh AV, Wilson DR, Zilberfarb JL, Perlmutter GS.
doi = 10.1177/0363546504263699 ] However, such testing does not account for what the living body may perform in the process of healing, in terms of joint remodeling, etc.

ee also

Shoulder surgery

References