High tibial osteotomy and debridement of the knee joint in treatment of varotic gonarthrosis.

UNLABELLED BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM: We perform high tibial osteotomy with knee debridement and forage. GOAL We evaluated the results of operations in 47 patients, who were operated from 1st January 1998 to 31st of December 2000. RESULTS We examined the patients before operation and 2, 4, 6, 12, 24 and 30 months after it. The follow up was from 6 months to two and a half years after operation. The results after the operation were evaluated by both the patient (pain) and the doctor. The doctor evaluated the axial state of the extremity, the range of movement in the knee joint, present synovitis and the X-ray. The youngest woman was 52 years old, the oldest woman was 71 years old. The average age was 63.3 years. The youngest man was 25 years old, the oldest was 67 years old. The average age was 57.2 years. Patient's evaluation after the operation: 34 percent had no pain, 43 percent felt pain after excessive loading at the joint, 19 percent did not register any change and 4 reported increased pain. Doctor's evaluation: In 23 percent of patients, excellent results were achieved, 47 percent had good results, in 21 percent, they were satisfactory and in 9 percent, unsatisfactory results were recorded. CONCLUSION After the theoretic analysis and evaluation of the group of operated patients, the authors indicate the possibility to perform high tibial osteotomy with debridement and forage as a joint saving knee operation in varotic gonarthrosis. (Fig. 1, Ref. 6.)