High Tibial Osteotomies for the Treatment of Osteoarthritis of the Knee.

»: A high tibial osteotomy (HTO) is a joint-preserving procedure that can be used to treat symptomatic unicompartmental cartilage disorders in the presence of limb malalignment.

»: Appropriate patient selection and careful preoperative planning are vital for optimizing outcomes.

»: Based on past literature, correction of varus malalignment to 3° to 8° of valgus appears to lead to favorable results. Recently, there has been growing awareness that it is important to consider soft-tissue laxity during preoperative planning.

»: Although there has been a recent trend toward performing opening-wedge rather than closing-wedge or dome HTOs for unicompartmental osteoarthritis, current data suggest that all 3 are acceptable techniques with varying complication profiles.

»: Based on current evidence, an HTO provides pain relief, functional improvement, and a high rate of return to sport, with reported survivorship ranging from 74.7% to 97.6% and 66.0% to 90.4% at 10 and 15 years, respectively.