Operative Treatment of Anterior Shoulder Instability A Network Meta-Analysis

Traumatic anterior shoulder instability is a common clinical problem among athletic populations, with several surgical treatment options available. The optimal treatment remains undetermined. Currently the main current treatment options are the Latarjet procedure or open or arthroscopic Bankart repair. The purpose of this study was to network meta-analyze the recent evidence to ascertain if the open Latarjet procedure and open or arthroscopic Bankart repair result in lower recurrence rates and subsequent revision procedures. The results were ranked with the P-score.

A literature search was performed based on the PRISMA guidelines. Cohort studies comparing any of the open Latarjet procedure and open or arthrosopic Bankart repair for anterior shoulder instability were included. Clinical outcomes were compared using a frequentist approach to network meta-analysis, with statistical analysis performed using R.

Twenty-nine studies with 2,474 patients were included. The open Latarjet procedure resulted in lower rates of recurrent instability and revisions due to recurrence compared to both open and arthroscopic Bankart repairs. The open Latarjet procedure resulted in the highest rate of return to play. However, the open Latarjet procedure also resulted in the highest complication rate.

Our network meta-analysis found the open Latarjet procedure had the lowest recurrence rates, lowest revisions rates, and highest rates of return to play in the surgical treatment of anterior shoulder instability. However, the Latarjet procedure has been shown to result in a higher complication rate, which needs to be considered when deciding which stabilization procedure to perform.