Federal Grant Award Summary

Rush University Medical Center received a $643,185 Project Grant awarded on June 10, 2026, from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) under the Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.846). The project will develop validated, patient-specific computational models to predict polyethylene (PE) wear in total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA) procedures and identify modifiable surgical, design, and rehabilitation targets to improve implant longevity. The research addresses a critical clinical need, as PE wear and implant-related failure remain leading causes of revision surgery in TSA, a procedure with growth rates exceeding hip and knee arthroplasty.

The research initiative will collect shoulder motion and muscle activation data across 25 activities of daily living from both anatomic TSA and reverse TSA patients at pre-operative and post-operative timepoints, with long-term patient follow-up extending to five years. Using unsupervised machine learning to categorize patients into movement-based phenotypes, the investigators will employ a multi-scale modeling framework to estimate in vivo shoulder loading and predict wear patterns associated with mechanical failure or inflammatory-mediated osteolysis. Additionally, the project will establish histopathological markers indicative of TSA failure caused by PE wear debris. The performance period extends through April 30, 2031.