Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the trends in surgical management for anterior shoulder instability in the U.S. Military.
Methods: A retrospective analysis of military service members undergoing arthroscopic or open shoulder stabilization from 2012 to 2015 within the U.S. Military Health System was conducted. Demographic and surgical variables were extracted from the medical record. Chi-square and linear regression analysis were performed to identify temporal trends by surgical procedures and concomitant surgery. Associations between demographic variables and surgical procedure were evaluated using logistic regression analysis with odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals.
Results: Eight thousand five hundred and eighty nine surgeries were performed for anterior shoulder instability. The arthroscopic Bankart procedure remained the dominant surgical procedure over time (n = 8177, 95.2%), whereas the open Bankart procedure (n = 172, 2.0%) demonstrated a diminishing trend, which was significant on univariate analysis (p = 0.0009), but not statistically significant on linear regression (p = 0.12). Additionally, there was a significant trend toward increased utilization of the Latarjet procedure over the period studied (n = 33, 1.7% - n = 81, 3.56%) (p = 0.009). During the same time period, concomitant superior labrum anterior/posterior repairs decreased (n = 980, 11.4%; p = 0.0045), whereas rates of biceps tenodesis (n = 741, 8.6%; p = 0.05) increased significantly. When analyzing patient age as a continuous variable, increasing age was associated with a significantly higher likelihood of arthroscopic treatment (odds ratio 1.02, 95% confidence interval 1.00-1.03, p = 0.05).
Conclusion: The rate of performing an arthroscopic Bankart repair has remained relatively stable as the dominant surgical procedure for shoulder instability in the military patient population. There was a significant trend of increased use of the Latarjet procedure, which likely reflects the recognition of bone loss through use of preoperative advanced imaging and computed tomography with three-dimensional reconstructions. Additionally, there was a significant decrease in adjacent superior labrum anterior/posterior repairs over the study period, followed by a corresponding rise in biceps tenodesis. Level of evidence: level IV.