Trends in Bone-Block Augmentation Among Recently Trained Orthopaedic Surgeons Treating Anterior Shoulder Instability

Shoulder instability is a common entity requiring surgical stabilization. Although arthroscopic soft-tissue stabilization has been the most common surgical treatment, increased attention is now being paid to Latarjet coracoid transfers and bone-block augmentation, particularly with glenoid bone loss. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the current status of arthroscopic soft-tissue stabilization and bone-block augmentation stabilization techniques among newly trained orthopaedic surgeons in the United States.

The American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (ABOS) database was utilized to identify shoulder instability cases submitted by ABOS Part-II Board Certification examination candidates. Cases were dichotomized into two groups: isolated soft-tissue stabilizations and bone-block augmentation procedures, including coracoid transfer. The two groups were then analyzed to determine trends in annual incidence, complication rates, types of complications, concomitant procedures, surgeon fellowship training, and geographic region of practice.

From 2004 to 2013, 6,854 surgeons submitted 7,587 shoulder instability surgical cases that met all inclusion criteria. Of these, 7,515 (99.1%) were isolated soft-tissue stabilizations, and 72 (0.95%) were bone-block glenoid augmentations. Surgeons with sports medicine fellowship training performed 61.85% of isolated soft-tissue stabilization procedures and 58.33% of bone-block stabilization procedures. The percentage of stabilization cases that utilized bone-block augmentation increased tenfold from 0.14% to 1.4% (p = 0.029) during the study period. The overall annual incidence of isolated soft-tissue stabilizations (p = 0.037) and bone-block procedures (p = 0.016) increased from 2004 to 2013. Although the complication rate of the bone-block procedures remained steady (mean rate, 20.8%; p = 0.932), the isolated soft-tissue stabilization complication rate rose from 4.9% to 9.0% (mean rate, 5.4%; p = 0.003).

A trend exists toward increased utilization of bone-block stabilization for the treatment of shoulder instability among recently trained orthopaedic surgeons. Complication rates remained relatively high (20.8%) for these procedures, but did not increase as was seen with the isolated soft-tissue stabilizations. Residency and fellowship programs should continue to focus on methods to optimize training for these procedures.

Therapeutic Level IV. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.