Combined arthroscopic Bankart repair and remplissage for recurrent shoulder instability

The objective of our study was to summarize the available clinical evidence pertaining to the combined arthroscopic Bankart repair and remplissage procedure (BRR) for the management of recurrent anterior glenohumeral instability.

We searched Medline (1946 to the third week of November, 2012), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Embase (1947 to the 50th week of 2012), and PubMed for studies that reported clinical outcome data at a minimum of 1 year after BRR. Two independent reviewers selected studies for inclusion, assessed methodological quality, and extracted relevant data. Clinical outcome data were pooled and summarized.

Seven clinical studies with a total of 220 patients met the inclusion criteria. Mean patient age was 29 years and mean follow-up was 26 months. Among all studies, the pooled rate of recurrent dislocation after BRR was 3.4%. Compared with preoperative range of motion (ROM) and ROM after Bankart repair (BR) for similar pathologic conditions, there were no clinically significant losses in glenohumeral motion after BRR. Moreover, BRR resulted in favorable functional outcome scores and high patient satisfaction. Four studies reported on postoperative imaging and found high rates of healing and tissue fill-in at the site of infraspinatus tenodesis.

After BRR, the rate of recurrent dislocation is low and there are no clinically significant losses in glenohumeral ROM. Moreover, functional outcome scores are good and there is a high rate of patient satisfaction. Going forward, there is a need for high-level clinical studies to support the findings of this systematic review and to develop an evidence-based approach to the management of patients with recurrent glenohumeral instability in the setting of a Hill-Sachs defect (HSD).