[Arthroscopic labral reconstruction for anterior shoulder instability. Failure analysis in 187 patients].
Comparing open with arthroscopic labral reconstruction for anterior shoulder instability we found a higher recurrence rate after arthroscopic capsulolabral repair. The aim of this study was, to analyse the reasons for recurrent instability after arthroscopic labral repair.


METHODS
Between 1989 and 1995 we performed a arthroscopic labral reconstruction on 187 patients with anterior shoulder instability. 118 patients (63%) were treated with a transglenoid suture technique and 69 patient (37%) with a suture anchor technique. The average age at the time of the operation was 26.4 +/- 6.3 years (14-52 years). There were 41 women (21.9%) and 146 men (78.1%).


RESULTS
The minimum follow-up was 18 months. The average follow-up was 3.7 +/- 1.1 years. The average Rowe Score increased from 34.7 points (0-75) preoperatively to 75.3 points (15-100) postoperatively. There were 47 (25.1%) excellent. 76 (40.6%) good, 21 (11.3%) fair, and 43 (23.0%) poor results. 105 patients (56.1%) regained their preoperative level of activity. 50 patients (26.7%) had recurrent subluxations or dislocations postoperatively. All failures occurred within two years (0.5-21 months) after the operation. Failure rates were associated with the patients age (p < 0.001), the level of activity (p < 0.05), the number of the preoperative dislocations (p < 0.01), the degree of the labral lesion (p < 0.001), and the operation method (p < 0.05). No correlation was found for the parameters sex, handiness, time between luxation and operation, size of Hill-Sachs-lesion and numbers of used sutures or anchors.


CONCLUSIONS
We prefer the arthroscopic suture anchor technique if there are less than 5 preoperative dislocation and a type 1 or 2 labral lesion. If there are more than 5 preoperative dislocations and a degenerative labrum defect we favor the open Bankart repair technique.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001178:Arthroplasty / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D012783:Shoulder Dislocation / Q000601:surgery* / Q000628:therapy*; D013536:Suture Techniques; D017211:Treatment Failure