Surgical treatment outcomes after primary vs recurrent anterior shoulder instability

The aim of this study is to compare the outcomes of surgical management after primary anterior shoulder dislocation to the outcomes of patients who have surgical stabilization after recurrent anterior shoulder instability.

A Medline (PubMed) search was performed in November of 2016 using the following key terms: shoulder, labrum, Bankart, instability, repair, outcome, recurrent. In May 2017 a Cochrane search was performed using similar key terms to ensure we included all studies. Only level I and II studies were included.

There were three studies that compared primary repair to delayed repair. In all three studies, the rate of recurrence was higher in group R than group S. When pooled, there was not a statistically significant difference between these groups, but there was a slightly higher odds of recurrence in group R (pooled OR 2.08, CI 0.69-6.26, p = 0.19). No significant differences were appreciated in functional outcomes or complications in these two groups.

Further level I and level II studies to compare surgical treatment after first time and recurrent instability are needed. This study failed to find a statistically significant difference in recurrence rates in patients who had stabilization acutely after a single episode compared to patients with recurrent instability events, although results suggest there may be a small benefit in primary stabilization.