A free bone block operation for recurrent anterior dislocation of the shoulder joint.

An operation to prevent recurrent anterior dislocation of the shoulder by insertion of a free iliac bone graft into an anterior glenoid osteotomy is described and has been performed on 16 shoulders in 15 patients. No additional fixation of the graft was used and the divided subscapularis tendon was not sutured. The average follow-up was 7 years and 8 months, no serious complications occurred, there were no recurrences, there was no evidence of degenerative osteoarthrosis and only 4 patients had any detectable loss of power. Only 2 patients had noticed any restriction of movement. There was some loss of external rotation in 13 shoulders. All patients returned to their desired levels of work and sporting activity after operation. The operation is technically easy to perform and has comparably excellent results to other published series.