The paper
"Arthroscopic Latarjet Stabilization of the Shoulder with Capsulolabral Repair" was published in Techniques in Shoulder & Elbow Surgery, Volume 16, Number 3, September 2015.
What the procedure treats
The procedure is used for anterior shoulder instability where there is significant bone loss from the glenoid, or where a previous soft tissue repair has failed. In those shoulders, repairing the soft tissues alone may not be sufficient to hold the joint in place, and bone is transferred to rebuild the front of the socket.
The modification described
The technique is a modification of the approach described by Dr Lafosse. The change is made at the initial exposure, so that the capsule and labrum are preserved rather than divided, allowing them to be repaired at the end of the operation after the coracoid bone block has been transferred.
Repairing the capsule and labrum adds to the stability of the reconstruction. Biomechanical testing reported in this context suggests the added stability is in the order of 10 to 20%. That figure comes from laboratory testing rather than clinical outcomes, and individual results vary.
A further consequence of preserving the capsule is that the bone block ends up outside the joint rather than within it. An extracapsular position may aid union of the graft to the socket, which could in turn reduce the chance of the graft failing to heal, although this paper does not present outcome data on that point.
Related information
See our shoulder instability page, and our posts on Latarjet stabilisation and the arthroscopic Latarjet technique paper.