The instability severity index score. A simple pre-operative score to select patients for arthroscopic or open shoulder stabilisation.
Authors: Balg F, Boileau P.
References: J Bone Joint Surg Br. 2007 Nov;89(11):1470-7.
- There is no simple method available to identify patients who will develop recurrent instability after an arthroscopic Bankart procedure and who would be better served by an open operation.
- We carried out a prospective case-control study of 131 consecutive unselected patients with recurrent anterior shoulder instability who underwent this procedure using suture anchors. At follow-up after a mean of 31.2 months (24 to 52) 19 (14.5%) had recurrent instability.
- The following risk factors were identified: patient age under 20 years at the time of surgery; involvement in competitive or contact sports or those involving forced overhead activity; shoulder hyperlaxity; a Hill-Sachs lesion present on an anteroposterior radiograph of the shoulder in external rotation and/or loss of the sclerotic inferior glenoid contour.
- These factors were integrated in a 10-point pre-operative instability severity index score and tested retrospectively on the same population. Patients with a score over 6 points had an unacceptable recurrence risk of 70% (p < 0.001).
- On this basis we believe that an arthroscopic Bankart repair is contraindicated in these patients, to whom we now suggest a Bristow-Latarjet procedure instead.
Instability severity index score is based on a pre-operative questionnaire, clinical examination, and radiographs:
Prognostic factors | Points |
Age at Surgery (yrs) |
|
≤ 20 | 2 |
> 20 | 0 |
|
|
Degree of sport participation (pre-operative) |
|
Competitive | 2 |
Recreational or none | 0 |
|
|
Type of Sport (pre-operative) |
|
Contact or forced overhead | 1 |
Other | 0 |
|
|
Shoulder Hyperlaxity* |
|
Hyperlaxity (anterior/inferior) | 1 |
Normal | 0 |
|
|
Hill-Sachs lesion on AP radiograph |
|
Visible on external rotation | 2 |
Not visible on external rotation | 0 |
|
|
Glenoid loss of contour on AP radiograph |
|
Loss of contour | 2 |
No lesion | 0 |
|
|
Total (points) | 10 |
A score of ≤ 6 points = an acceptable recurrence risk of 10% with arthroscopic stabilisation.
A score of > 6 points = an unacceptable recurrence risk of 70% and should be advised to undergo open surgery (i.e. Laterjet procedure).
* Anterior hyperlaxity = External rotation > 85° with the arm at the side
Inferior hyperlaxity = a positive hyperabduction test (the Gagey test as modified by Coste et al) in which a side-to-side difference > 20° is positive