Immediate and early complications of the open Latarjet procedure: a retrospective review of a large consecutive case series

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Immediate and early postoperative complications of the Latarjet procedure are not well documented in the literature. The purpose of this study was to report the procedure-related complications of our large consecutive case series of 3 surgeons at a single high-volume center. We conducted a retrospective chart review of 416 Latarjet procedures performed on 400 patients (16 patients had bilateral procedures) who underwent surgery by the 3 senior authors from October 2002 to July 2015. Immediate and early complications included hardware problems, infection, and neurologic injury. In addition, the patient's age and history of prior instability surgery were noted and evaluated as risk factors for complication. The overall complication rate was 5.0% (21 complications in 19 procedures). Thirteen neurologic injuries (3.1%) occurred to the axillary (7), musculocutaneous (4), and suprascapular (2) nerves, including 2 patients with multiple nerves affected. All but 2 patients had complete resolution of symptoms at time of last follow-up. Six infections (1.4%) developed, including 3 superficial infections treated with oral antibiotics and 3 deep infections requiring irrigation and débridement with intravenous antibiotics. Two early hardware-related complications (0.05%) were also noted. Increased age was associated with a higher complication rate. History of prior surgery was not associated with increased complications in our series. This study highlights the procedural complications of the Latarjet procedure. Neurologic injury was the most common complication in our series, with complete or near-complete recovery in 11 of 13 patients.