Clinical Outcomes of Arthroscopic Bony Bankart Repair for Anterior Instability of the Shoulder: A Systematic Review

Background: Individual studies reporting the clinical outcomes of arthroscopic bony Bankart repair for anterior shoulder instability have reported excellent results but have been limited by their small sample sizes. No systematic review of the literature has been performed examining the clinical outcomes of arthroscopic bony Bankart repair. Purpose: To provide a systematic review of the literature to examine the functional outcomes, recurrence rate, and return to sports rate after arthroscopic bony Bankart repair for anterior instability of the shoulder. Study Design: Systematic review; Level of evidence, 4. Methods: A systematic review of the literature based on the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines was conducted using the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Ovid/Embase, PubMed, and Web of Science. Studies that examined clinical outcomes after arthroscopic bony Bankart repair for anterior shoulder instability were included. Data pertaining to study characteristics and design, patient demographic characteristics, and clinical results, including functional outcomes, recurrence rate, and return to sports, were collected. The results from the studies were pooled, and weighted means and overall rates were calculated. Results: In total, 21 studies with 769 patients were included for analysis. Most patients were male (91.7%), the mean age was 26.7 years (range, 12-71 years), and the mean follow-up was 42.7 months (range, 6-120 months). The most commonly reported functional outcome score was the Rowe score (12 studies), which improved on average from 41.9 preoperatively to 90.8 postoperatively. The rate of recurrent instability was reported by all 21 studies, and the overall recurrence rate was 11.9% (88/738). Return to sports after arthroscopic bony Bankart repair was reported by 11 studies, with a pooled return to sports rate of 91.0% (264/290). Conclusion: Arthroscopic bony Bankart repair for anterior shoulder instability resulted in improvements in functional outcomes, a low rate of recurrent instability, and a high rate of return to sports. Although these findings are extremely promising, future prospective studies with larger sample sizes are needed to further evaluate the clinical outcomes of arthroscopic bony Bankart repair.