A mid-term analysis on treating medial compartment osteoarthritis of knee with proximal fibular osteotomy

Abstract

Background: Patients with medial compartment OA knee who fall under early radiological grades of disease or are functionally active or have an isolated medial compartment OA knee are not considered for knee arthroplasty but still experience pain and face difficulty in day to day activities. Thus, comes the need for a procedure which can include these patients and treat their symptoms.Aims and Objectives: Our aim is to analyse the functional outcome of proximal fibular osteotomy for treating symptomatic medial compartment osteoarthritis of knee.Methods: From December 2018 to January 2020, 42 patients with medial compartment osteoarthritis were operated with proximal fibular osteotomy. Knee ambulation was evaluated using the American Knee Society score and the Knee pain was assessed using a visual analogue scale preoperatively and postoperatively on 1st, 3rd and 6th month.Result: Immediate pain relief was noted in the patients undergoing proximal fibular osteotomy, which was seen as average decrease in the visual analogue score from 7.5 ± 0.9 preoperatively to 2.5 ± 0.9 at 6th month. Patients also experienced improved KSS functional score from 35.4 ± 15.1 pre-operatively to 79.9 ± 12.6 at 6th month and improved KSS clinical score from 54.6 ± 14.1 pre-operatively to 88.2 ± 6.9 at 6th month.Conclusion: The present study demonstrates that proximal fibular osteotomy is an effective, low cost and simple surgery for reliving pain and for improving the joint function in patients with symptomatic medial compartment osteoarthritis.