The goal of this study was to assess the overall function (Walch-Duplay score), stability, time and because it is time of return to sport and level of return to sport, and satisfaction of patients who underwent an arthroscopic Bankart repair for chronic anterior shoulder instability at 5 years’ follow-up. In addition, the potential correlation between the postoperative Walch-Duplay score and the presence of risk factors for recurrence, the ISIS score, associated labral lesions discovered intraoperatively and clinical presentation was determined.

This was a retrospective, single-centre study of 30 patients (31 arthroscopic Bankart procedures) operated between January 2003 and December 2012. The Walch-Duplay score, recurrence rate (dislocation or subluxation), return to sports and subjective satisfaction were evaluated.

The mean postoperative Duplay score was 77.4 points (100–15)±30.6. At review, 25.8% of patients had recurrence of the preoperative symptoms, including 16.1% glenohumeral dislocation and 9.7% subluxation. Patients requiring revision surgery (Bristow-Latarjet procedure) had no additional instability episodes. Among the athletes, 16 (66.6%) returned to their pre-injury level, four (16.6%) changed to a different sport and four stopped participating (16.6%). The subjective evaluation of the procedure was satisfactory in 75% of cases. No risk factors for recurrence were significantly related to the Walch-Duplay score.

Despite satisfactory Walch-Duplay scores and subjective results, this mid-term follow-up study revealed a significant number of patients with recurrent instability after arthroscopic Bankart repair, confirming published data. Careful patient selection is essential prior to proposing this procedure and patients should be informed of the potential risk of revision surgery.

Level IV, retrospective study.