Distal Femoral Varus Osteotomy for Valgus Arthritis of the Knees: Systematic Review of Open versus Closed Wedge Osteotomy

PURPOSE: The purpose of this review is to compare the clinical and radiological outcomes between open and closed wedge distal femoral varus osteotomy (DFO). METHODS: A literature search of online databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library database) was made in addition to manual search of major orthopedic journals. Data were searched from the time period of January 1990 to October 2016. A modified Coleman Methodology Score system was used to assess the methodologic quality of the included studies. A total of 20 studies were included in the review. All studies were level IV evidence. RESULTS: Comparative analysis of open and closed wedge DFO did not demonstrate clinical and radiological differences. The survival rates were also similar. Five studies (56%) on open wedge DFO mentioned the need for either bone grafting or substitute for osteotomy gap filling and reported higher incidences of reoperation for plate removal than the closed wedge DFO studies. CONCLUSIONS: The present systematic review showed similar performance between open and closed wedge DFO. Outcomes including survival rates were not statistically significantly different. However, additional bone grafting or substitutes were often needed to prevent delayed union or nonunion for open wedge techniques. Additional operations for plate removal were commonly required due to plate irritation in both techniques.

Modified Iliac Crest Reconstruction with Bone Cement for Reduction of Donor Site Pain and Morbidity after Open Wedge High Tibial Osteotomy: A Prospective Study

PURPOSE: This study was to determine the efficacy of iliac crest reconstruction using bone cement in reducing pain and morbidity at the donor site in patients undergoing open wedge high tibial osteotomy (OWHTO) with tricortical iliac crest autologous graft. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-three patients who underwent iliac crest reconstruction using polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) bone cement (group A) and thirty patients who had no iliac crest reconstruction (group B) were enrolled in this study. All patients were evaluated for pain and functional disability related to graft harvesting using the pain and functional visual analogue scale (VAS) score during hospital stay and at 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months postoperatively. RESULTS: There was significant difference between the two groups in terms of pain and function. The pain VAS score was significantly lower in group A than group B during the first 2 weeks postoperatively (p=0.04) and the functional VAS score was also significantly lower in group A during the first 2 weeks postoperatively (p<0.001) in terms of breathing, sitting up from the supine position, and standing up with crutches from the sitting position. CONCLUSIONS: Iliac crest donor site reconstruction using PMMA bone cement in patients undergoing OWHTO significantly decreased pain and improved function during the first 2 weeks postoperatively when compared to patients who underwent OWHTO without iliac crest reconstruction.

High Tibia Osteotomy for a Posterior Root Tear of the Medial Meniscus / 대한정형외과학회잡지

Posterior root tear of the medial meniscus which is frequently unrecognized is a common injury of meniscus that often results in serious consequences in a knee joint. After medial meniscus posterior root tear (MMPR), there is a significant increase in tibio-femoral contact pressure concomitant with altered knee joint kinematics. This injury frequently leads to meniscal extrusion, and thus the transmission of circumferential hoop stresses would be impaired, which condition is biomechanically similar to that of total meniscectomy. For these reasons, several methods (conservative treatment, meniscectomy, repair, or unicompartmental knee arthroplasty) have been developed for treatment of MMPR, many of which have shown good clinical results. However, the methods of MMPR treatment are still debatable. This article presents a review of the current strategies for treatment of common injuries to these MMPR and clinical results of high tibia osteotomy for MMPR after failed conservative treatment.