Quality and Quantity of the Elbow Arthroscopy Literature: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
The purpose of this article is to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of elbow arthroscopy literature to answer the following questions: “Across the world, what demographic of patients are undergoing elbow arthroscopy, what are the most common indications for elbow arthroscopy, and how good is the evidence?”
The authors hypothesized that patients who undergo elbow arthroscopy will be chiefly age <40 years, the most common indication for elbow arthroscopy will be a release/débridement, and the evidence regarding elbow arthroscopy will be poor. Also, no significant differences will exist in elbow arthroscopy publications, subjects, outcomes, and techniques based on continent/country of publication.
A systematic review was registered with the International Prospective Register of Ongoing Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) and performed with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines using 3 publicly available databases. Therapeutic clinical outcome investigations reporting arthroscopic elbow outcomes with levels of evidence I-IV were eligible for inclusion. All study, subject, and surgical technique demographics were analyzed and compared between continents and countries. Statistics were calculated using 1-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to compare between continents and Pearson’s correlation coefficients to evaluate changes over time.
In total, 112 studies were included (3093 subjects; 3168 elbows; 64% male; mean 34.9 ± 14.68 years. Mean 33.4 ± 26.02 months follow-up. Most studies were level IV evidence (94.6%) and had a low Modified Coleman Methodology Score (MCMS) (mean 28.1 ± 8.06). From 1985 through 2013, the number of publications significantly increased with time (P = .004) in all continents. The 3 most common indications for elbow arthroscopy were osteochondritis dissecans (OCD), lateral epicondylitis, and release and débridement. The number of reported cases for the 3 most common indications significantly increased over time but did not differ between regions (P > .05 in all cases). Thirty-two studies (28.6%) reported clinical outcomes, the most common of which was the Mayo Elbow Performance Score, reported in 9.8% of studies. The quantity, but not the quality, of arthroscopic elbow publications has significantly increased over time. Most patients undergo elbow arthroscopy for lateral epicondylitis, OCD, and release and débridement. Pathology and indications do not appear to differ geographically with more men undergoing elbow arthroscopy than women.
The most common surgical indications were OCD (Figure 4), lateral epicondylitis (Figure 5), and release and débridement (Figure 6, Table 3; all studies listed indications). The number of reported cases for these 3 indications significantly increased over time (OCD P = .005, lateral epicondylitis P = .044, release and débridement P = .042) but did not significantly differ between regions (P > .05 in all cases).
Thirty-two (28.6%) studies reported the use of outcome measures (16 different outcome scores were used by the included studies). Asia reported outcome measures in 9 of 23 studies (39%), Europe in 12 of 35 studies (34%) and North America in 11 of 54 (20%) of studies. The MEPS was the most frequently used outcome score in 9.8% of studies, followed by VAS for pain in 5.3% of cases. North American studies reported a significantly higher increase in extension after elbow arthroscopy than Asia (P = .0432) (Figure 7), with no differences in flexion (P = .699), pronation (P = .376), or supination (P = .408). No significant differences were observed between continents in the type of anesthesia chosen (general anesthesia [P = .94] or regional anesthesia [P = .85]). Asia and Europe performed elbow arthroscopy most frequently in the lateral decubitus position, while North American studies most often used the supine position (Table 4).
Twenty (17.9%) studies reported the use of a postoperative splint, 12 (10.7%) studies reported use of a drain, 2 (1.79%) studies reported use of a hinged elbow brace, 9 (8.03%) studies reported use of a continuous passive motion machine postoperatively, and 3 (2.68%) studies reported use of an indwelling axillary catheter for postoperative pain management. Of 130 reported surgical complications (4.1%), the most frequent complication was transient sensory ulnar nerve palsy (1.5%), followed by persistent wound drainage (.76%), and transient sensory radial nerve palsy (.38%). Other reported complications included infection (.22%), transient sensory palsy of the median nerve (.19%), heterotopic ossification (.13%), complete transection of the ulnar nerve (.10%), loose body formation (.06%), hematoma formation (.06%), transient sensory palsy of the posterior interosseous (.06%), or anterior interosseous nerve (.03%), and complete transection of the radial (.03%), or median nerve (.03%).
