High tibial osteotomy for the treatment of unicompartmental arthritis of the knee.

Knee axial deformities associated with medial or lateral compartment osteoarthritis can be reliably addressed with high tibial osteotomies. Different surgical techniques can be successfully used for achieving the correction. Whatever the technique used, accurate patient selection and precise surgical procedure are critical to the success of the operation. The authors believe that proximal tibial osteotomy is a valuable procedure to achieve pain relief and to restore knee function in selected patients. Localized knee osteoarthritis of the highly motivated, older, active patient can also be included in the extended indications of the high tibial osteotomy.