A clinico-radiological evaluation of functional outcome of proximal fibular osteotomy for medial compartment knee osteoarthritis: a new emerging technique

Background: The medial compartmental osteoarthritis (OA) knee is initially treated conservatively followed by lateral close/open medial wedge high tibial osteotomy (HTO), or by unicompartmental or total knee replacement (UKR/TKR). Though HTO and UKR/TKR yield good results but are technically more demanding and are fraught with risk of complications, moreover replacement may not be the treatment of choice for younger patients. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of proximal fibular osteotomy (PFO), a minimally invasive procedure minus risks associated with HTO/TKR.Methods: Thirty-eight patients, 15 males and 23 females with a mean age of 54.46 years (range, 35 to 80 years) underwent PFO for OA knee and were followed for a mean period of 8.63 months (range 6 to 12 months).Results: After PFO all patients experienced immediate significant relief in medial knee pain with improved walking distance. Postoperatively, all patients showed radiological improvement in femorotibial angle (FTA), medial/lateral joint space ratio.Conclusions: PFO is safe, minimally invasive technique with minimal complications. It gives immediate relief of medial knee pain with improved function of joint