Navigated osteotomies around the knee in 170 patients with osteoarthritis secondary to genu varum

Abstract

The authors used computer navigation to perform osteotomies around the knee. The purpose of this article is to present the authors' surgical technique and to discuss double-level osteotomy of the femur and tibia to avoid altered joint line obliquity in genu varum deformity. The authors conducted two studies. The first study was a cohort study comparing navigated high tibial osteotomies and conventional high tibial osteotomies. The results showed a 96% reproducibility in achieving a mechanical axis of 184 degrees +/- 2 degrees in the navigated group compared to a 71% reproducibility in achieving a mechanical axis of 184 degrees +/- 2 degrees in the conventional osteotomy group (P < .0015). The second study was a prospective study on double-level osteotomy and showed that the preoperative goal of 182 degrees +/- 2 degrees has been achieved in 91% of patients.