Purpose Clinical shoulder science lacks a benchmark against which the early clinical value of new glenoid components can be compared; such a benchmark may be derived from a multicenter study of patients receiving an established, internationally used design of glenoid component.

Methods We obtained data from 11 centers on 1270 patients having total shoulder arthroplasty using an all-polyethylenecomponent with a fluted central peg. We analyzed individual patient outcomes at 1 and 2 years after surgery. We compared the improvement for each patient to the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) and calculated each patient’s improvement as a percent of maximal possible improvement (MPI).