ARTHROSCOPICALLY TREATED TEARS OF THE GLENOID-LABRUM - FACTORS INFLUENCING OUTCOME

Labral tears and associated glenohumeral ligament injuries were classi fied and treated arthroscopically in 83 patients. Transverse labral te ars were the most common. Subtle increased glenohumeral translation wa s noted in 24% of patients. Glenohumeral ligament injury was present i n 58% of the shoulders, with the middle and superior ligaments or midd le ligaments alone most commonly involved. These ligament injuries wer e classified into different groups based on severity. Partial excision of the torn labrum was the primary treatment in all patients and was combined with glenohumeral ligament repair in 9 patients. Seventy-eigh t patients were available for subjective follow-up evaluation (average , 3.2 years), while 53 patients were objectively evaluated (average fo llowup, 2.8 years). There were 14% excellent, 71% satisfactory, and 15 % poor results. The main factor associated with poor results was a gra de III glenohumeral ligament injury in which only partial excision of the tom labrum was performed. There was a positive correlation between injury to both the superior and middle glenohumeral ligaments and inc reased anterior translation demonstrated by preoperative stability tes ting at 60-degrees of humeral abduction in neutral rotation. We believ e glenohumeral ligament injury is often associated with labral tears a nd arthroscopic partial labral excision is only effective in those pat ients who have grade I or II (less severe) glenohumeral ligament injur ies.