Does Repair of a Hill-Sachs Defect Increase Stability at the Glenohumeral Joint?

The effect of osteoallograft repair of a Hill-Sachs lesion and the effect of allograft fit on glenohumeral translations in response to applied force are poorly understood.

To compare the impact of a 25% Hill-Sachs lesion, a perfect osteoallograft repair (PAR) of a 25% Hill-Sachs lesion, and an "imperfect" osteoallograft repair (IAR) of a 25% Hill-Sachs lesion on glenohumeral translations in response to a compressive load and either an anterior or posterior load in 3 clinically relevant arm positions.

Controlled laboratory study.

A robotic/universal force-moment sensor testing system was used to apply joint compression (22 N) and an anterior or posterior load (44 N) to cadaveric shoulders (n = 9) with the skin and deltoid removed (intact) at 3 glenohumeral joint positions (abduction/external rotation): 0°/0°, 30°/30°, and 60°/60°. The 25% bony defect state, PAR state, and IAR state were created and the loading protocol was performed. Translational motion was measured in each position for each shoulder state. A nonparametric repeated-measures Friedman test with a Wilcoxon signed-rank post hoc test was performed to compare the biomechanical parameters (P < .05).

Compared with the defect shoulder, the PAR shoulder had significantly less anterior translation with an anterior load in the 0°/0° (15.3 ± 8.2 vs 16.6 ± 9.0 mm, P = .008) and 30°/30° (13.6 ± 7.1 vs 14.2 ± 7.0 mm, P = .021) positions. Compared with IAR, the PAR shoulder had significantly less anterior translation with an anterior load in the 0°/0° (15.3 ± 8.2 vs 16.6 ± 9.0 mm, P = .008) and 30°/30° (13.6 ± 7.1 vs 14.4 ± 7.1 mm, P = .011) positions, and the defect shoulder had significantly less anterior translation with an anterior load in the 30°/30° (14.2 ± 7.0 vs 14.4 ± 7.0 mm, P = .038) position.

PAR resulted in the least translational motion at the glenohumeral joint. The defect shoulder had significantly less translational motion at the joint compared with the IAR. An IAR resulted in the most translational motion at the glenohumeral joint. This demonstrates the biomechanical importance of performing an osteoallograft repair in which the allograft closely matches the Hill-Sachs defect and fully restores the preinjury state of the humeral head.

This study demonstrates the importance of performing an osteoallograft repair of a Hill-Sachs defect that closely matches the preinjury state and restores normal humeral head anatomy.