A shoulder dislocation is the most common type of joint dislocation injury. In shoulder dislocations—which often occur in young people following high-energy trauma or sports injuries—the initial treatment involves reducing the shoulder joint under general anesthesia or light sedation (closed reduction). However, damage to the labrum—a tissue that provides joint stability—during the initial dislocation can lead to recurrent dislocations in cases that are not properly rehabilitated. Recurrent shoulder dislocations, in turn, create bone defects in the shoulder joint socket, which further complicates treatment.
Our 35-year-old male patient had experienced a total of six shoulder dislocations; following this, he underwent arthroscopic labrum repair at another center, but the dislocation recurred three more times after the procedure. We performed the Latarjet-Bristow procedure, also known as the Latarjet procedure, on our patient. In this surgical procedure, used to treat recurrent shoulder dislocations, a portion of the bony region known as the coracoid process and the associated muscles are transferred to the front of the shoulder joint socket (glenoid). This creates a bony block that prevents the shoulder joint from dislocating. You are viewing images from our patient’s surgery and the results of her rehabilitation at the 5-week mark.