On the faculty
An invitation to speak as faculty at the 2018 Royal North Shore Shoulder Symposium in Sydney, held in February.
The topic
The talk addresses the complications of Latarjet surgery and how to avoid them. Discussing complications openly at a meeting of surgeons is how they get reduced: a surgeon who has encountered a particular problem can save others from it, and a procedure's limitations are worth stating as plainly as its indications.
What the Latarjet procedure is
The Latarjet is an operation for anterior shoulder instability, in which the ball of the shoulder repeatedly slips forward out of its socket. A small piece of bone, the coracoid process, is transferred with its attached tendon to the front of the socket, which deepens a socket that has lost bone and adds a restraint across the front of the joint.
It is generally considered where there is significant bone loss from the socket, or where a soft tissue repair has already failed. The alternatives include arthroscopic repair of the labrum and, in some shoulders, a remplissage. Individual results vary.
Why complications are discussed at meetings
Every operation has recognised complications, and the Latarjet is technically demanding and performed close to important structures at the front of the shoulder. A session on complications sets out what can go wrong, which steps of the operation carry the risk, and what changes in technique reduce it.
These sessions are useful for a straightforward reason. A surgeon who has met a particular problem can describe how it arose and what they now do differently, which spares others from arriving at it independently. Setting out a procedure's limitations as plainly as its indications is also how surgeons decide when not to offer it, which is as much a part of the work as performing it.
About the symposium
Royal North Shore Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Sydney, and its shoulder symposium is one of the regular Australian meetings for surgeons working in this area. Faculty at a meeting of this kind are invited to speak on a nominated subject and to take part in case discussions and panel sessions, where the questions from the floor often matter more than the prepared talk.
Related information
See our shoulder instability page and our post on the February 2018 symposium. See also our anterior instability, Latarjet with labral repair and surgery FAQs pages.