Joint Preserving Osteotomy for Knee Osteoarthritis

​Although there is no known cure for OA, treatment designed for the individual patient can reduce pain, improve joint mobility and limit functional impairment. The management of OA includes both conservative and surgical options. Conservative options are further divided into pharmacological (medication) and nonpharmacological modalities. Surgical options include various types of osteotomy, arthroscopic interventions and knee arthroplasty, of which total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is the most commonly performed. As the burden of knee OA keeps increasing, the number of TKAs performed is reported to be increasing every year.1 However, variation in postoperative outcomes has been observed among patients, with up to twenty percent of patients dissatisfied with their outcomes after TKA.3 Traditionally, OA is thought to be a progressive disease of the adult and elderly. However, we are seeing symptomatic OA in younger population groups today. Over half of all persons with symptomatic knee OA are younger than 65 years of age.3 As many of these younger persons will live for three decades or more, there is substantially more time for greater disability to occur. There is therefore a need for deployment of innovative prevention and treatment strategies for knee OA.