High tibial osteotomy combined with arthroscopy for elderly patients with knee osteoarthritis of medial compartment

Abstract

To observe early clinical effect of high tibial osteotomy combined with arthroscopy for elderly patients with knee osteoarthritis of medial compartment. Sixty-one elderly patients with medial compartment knee osteoarthritis were treated with high tibial osteotomy combined with arthroscopy from August 2017 to October 2018. Among them, including 17 males and 44 females, aged from 60 to 83 years old with an average of (67.87±6.45) years old. Weight bearing line (WBL) and femora-tibial angle (FTA) were analyzed to assess lower limb alignment before and 12 months after surgery. Visual analogue scale (VAS) score and Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) score were used to evaluate knee pain and function before and 1, 3, 12 months after surgery. All patients were followed up from 12 to 19 months with an average of (14.27±4.69) months. WBL was improved from (14.79±5.61) % before operation to (59.33±7.82) % at 12 months after operation (t=2.294, P<0.05), FTA was improved from (182.14±2.19) ° before operation to (171.54±3.16) ° at 12 months after operation (t=1.827, P<0.05) . VAS score decreased from 6.14±2.21 before operation to 3.64±0.92, 2.02±0.63 and 0.93±0.61 at 1, 3 and 12 months after operation (F=458.24, P<0.001), HSS score increased from 49.66±13.79 to 58.39±9.26, 71.82±6.06 and 82.71±6.97 at 1, 3 and 12 months after operation (F=266.45, P<0.001) . Three patients had contralateral cortical fracture during surgery, whose osteotomy area healed well at 12 months after surgery. The incision healing of 4 cases was slow, while all healed at 3 to 4 weeks after surgery. High tibial osteotomy combined with arthroscopy could adjust lower limb alignment effectively, relieve knee pain and functional dysfunction, which indicated a significant short term efficacy on the elderly patients with knee osteoarthritis of medial compartment.