Delayed- and non-union following opening wedge high tibial osteotomy: surgeons' results from 182 completed cases

• Published in: Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA Vol. 13; no. 1; pp. 34 - 37
• Main Authors: Warden, Stuart J, Morris, Hayden G, Crossley, Kay M, Brukner, Peter D, Bennell, Kim L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Springer Nature B.V 01.01.2005
• Subjects: Arthritis; Australia; Bone Plates; Humans; Ilium - transplantation; Joint Instability - physiopathology; Joint Instability - surgery; Knee Joint - physiopathology; Osteoarthritis, Knee - surgery; Osteotomy - adverse effects; Osteotomy - methods; Osteotomy - statistics & numerical data; Pain management; Postoperative Period; Practice Patterns, Physicians; Retrospective Studies; Surveys and Questionnaires; Tibia - surgery; Weight-Bearing - physiology; Wound Healing - physiology; Australia
• ISSN: 0942-2056; 1433-7347
• DOI: 10.1007/s00167-003-0485-1

Opening wedge high tibial osteotomy (OWHTO) is a recently described procedure for medial compartment arthritis of the knee in the active, younger population. Despite having a number of advantages over the traditional closing wedge high tibial osteotomy (CWHTO) a potential complication of OWHTO is a high rate of delayed- and non-union. This study reports the occurrence of delayed- and non-union following OWHTO for medial compartment arthritis of the knee. Questionnaires were sent to all current members of the Australian Knee Society (n=45), a special interest group of the Australian Orthopaedic Group. Surgeons were asked primarily to indicate how many OWHTOs they had performed, and how many of these had progressed to union, delayed-union and non-union. All 45 questionnaires were returned, with 21 surgeons (47%) performing OWHTOs. A total of 188 OWHTO cases were reported, of which 182 were complete. Of these complete cases 167 (91.8%) were classed as united, 12 (6.6%) delay-united and 3 (1.6%) non-united. The results of this study demonstrate that the rate of delayed- and non-union following OWHTO for medial compartment arthritis of the knee is relatively low and comparable to that reported for traditional CWHTO.