Latarjet procedure: evolution of the bone block and correspondent clinical relevance-a clinical and radiological study.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to correlate the bone block graft position, its dimension, its reabsorption and its integration with clinical outcome in patients operated on for recurrent anterior shoulder instability.

METHODS

Twenty-four patients affected by recurrent anterior shoulder dislocation and operated on using the Latarjet procedure were enrolled in this study. At 6 and 24 months, patients were evaluated with the following scales: ROWE, WOSI, Oxford instability score, UCLA, DASH and Constant score. Patients underwent two postoperative CT scans: immediately after surgery (T0) and at 24 months post-op (T1).

RESULTS

At 24 months, none of the 24 patients reported further episodes of dislocation. Clinically at the final follow-up, we found excellent results in all the evaluation scales. Mean reduction in bone graft from T0 to T1 was 42% of the overall volume; similarly reduction in the overall surface was 29.3%; decrease in length, width and depth was, respectively, 3.4, 2.2 and 1.0 mm; all these parameters decreased significantly (p < 0.05). No correlations were found between radiological parameters and clinical and functional outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

The results confirm that a lack of integration or a significant reabsorption of the graft is present in the Latarjet procedure, but they do not significantly affect the clinical and functional results.