Functional outcomes of early arthroscopic bankart repair in adolescents aged 11 to 18 years

Abstract

Recurrent shoulder instability can significantly affect a patient's quality of life and place them at risk for extensive soft tissue and bony injury with repeated dislocations. Literature on the operative management of recurrent instability in pediatric patients is limited, as most studies include pediatric patients within a larger sample group comprised primarily of adults. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the role of early arthroscopic Bankart repair (ABR) after anterior shoulder dislocation or subluxation in a pure pediatric population. We retrospectively reviewed 32 consecutive ABRs in 30 pediatric patients. Sixteen shoulders failed initial nonoperative therapy before ABR, whereas surgical stabilization was the primary treatment in 16 shoulders after initial evaluation at our institution. There were 17 males and 13 females with an average age of 15.4 years (age range, 11-18 years). The average follow-up was 25.2 months. Functional outcomes were measured using the single assessment numerical evaluation (SANE) score. In the initial nonoperative group, the average SANE score was 92.2. There were 3 shoulder redislocations in 2 patients (18.75%). In the 16 shoulders treated with ABR as initial therapy, the average SANE score was 91.8, and there were 2 shoulder redislocations in 2 patients (12.5%). We conclude that primary ABR is an effective treatment of traumatically induced shoulder instability in pediatric patients. Primary ABR limits multiple recurring shoulder dislocations that hinder a patient's quality of life and places them at risk for future negative sequelae.