Redislocations after arthroscopic refixations of the labrum glenoidale in traumatic anterior shoulder instability

Objective: Recurrence rates after arthroscopic labral reconstruction for an terior shoulder instability are still higher than after open procedures. Th erefore, proper selection of patients becomes increasingly important. The a im of this study was to investigate factors influencing recurrence rates af ter arthroscopic labral repair with suture anchors. Patients and methods: We examined 53 patients (43 male, 10 female) with tra umatic anterior shoulder dislocations, who were treated with arthroscopic l abral repair using Fastak-Suture anchors between 1995 and 1996. The average follow-up time was 18 (12-30) months. The mean age of the patients at the time of operation was 27 (15-44) years. Results: Postoperatively, 11 patients (20.7 %) reported on redislocations. Recurrence rates increased significantly in patients with more than 4 preop erative dislocations and in patients with bony Bankart lesions. In patients without redislocations, the mean Rowe score improved from 65.9 (SD +/- 12. 3) preoperatively to 88.6 (SD +/- 12.5) at follow-up. Thus, there were 24 e xcellent, 9 good and 6 fair results, while in 3 patients with persisting si gns of shoulder instability results had to be estimated as poor. Deficits i n the range of motion of more than 15 degrees were seen in 7 patients with predominant affection of the external rotation. Conclusion: Frequent preoperative dislocations and bony Bankart lesions con tribute substantially to high recurrence rates after arthroscopic labral re pair. Therefore, in these cases open procedures should be preferred.