Arthroscopic lavage reduced the recurrence rate following primary anteriorshoulder dislocation - A randomised multicentre study with 1-year follow-up

Young individuals have a high recurrence rate following nonoperative treatm ent of traumatic primary anterior shoulder dislocation. The present multice ntre study was undertaken to find out whether the results could he improved by using arthroscopic lavage as treatment. Sixty patients aged 16-30 years , with traumatic primary anterior shoulder dislocation were randomised into two groups. One group was treated with arthroscopic lavage within 10 days, while the other group was treated non-operatively. Rehabilitation was othe rwise identical. At I-year follow-up, 4 of 30 patients (13%) in the lavage group had had redislocation compared with 13 of 30 (43%) in the group treat ed non-operatively (P = 0.01). The difference in recurrence rate was more p ronounced in younger patients. The functional outcome according to the Rowe shoulder score was better in the lavage group (P = 0.003), as was the ante rior stability according to the apprehension test (P = 0.008). We conclude that arthroscopic lavage reduced the recurrence rate and produced a better functional outcome at 1-year follow-up than the non-operative treatment in young individuals.