Outcome of Bankart repair in contact versus non-contact athletes

The clinical results of arthroscopic Bankart repair for contact athletes varies according to published reports. The purposes of this study were to analyze the clinical outcome of open or arthroscopic Bankart repair and to investigate the results in contact and non-contact athletes.

Clinical outcome of arthroscopic Bankart repair is similar to that of open procedure.

One hundred patients with recurrent anterior shoulder dislocation without a large bony defect were retrospectively reviewed. Fifty-one contact and 49 non-contact athletes were found with a mean follow-up of 17 months. Forty-nine shoulders underwent arthroscopic Bankart repairs; 51 shoulders had open Bankart repairs.

In non-contact athletes, there was a 5% (1/22 cases) recurrence rate in the open group and 4% (1/27 cases) in the arthroscopic group. In contrast, in contact athletes, there was a 10% (3/29 cases) recurrence rate in the open group and 14% (3/22 cases) in the arthroscopic group. There was no significant difference in the recurrence rate between contact and non-contact athletes, although contact athletes showed two to three times a higher recurrence rate than that of non-contact athletes. The Rowe score and Constant score showed no significant difference between the two procedures and between the contact and non-contact athletes. The rate of the complete return to sports showed no significant difference between contact and non-contact athletes.

The recurrence rate of Bankart repair in the contact athletes was 2 times higher in the open group and 3 times higher in the arthroscopic group than in the non-contact athletes. Clinical outcome of arthroscopic Bankart repair was similar to that of open procedure.