Abstract: Aim: To explore the effects of proximal fibular osteotomy as a new surgery for pain relief and improvement of medial joint space and function in patients with knee osteoarthritis.
Methods: From September 2017 to December 2020, 24 patients (six cases were bilateral so total 30 knees) who underwent proximal fibular osteotomy for medial compartment osteoarthritis in Bapuji Hospital and Chigateri hospital attached to JJM Medical college, were followed up. Preoperative and postoperative weight-bearing and whole lower extremity radiographs were obtained to analyze the alignment of the lower extremity and ratio of the knee joint space (medial/lateral compartment). Knee pain was assessed using a visual analogue scale, and knee ambulation activities were evaluated using the KSS score.
Results: A total of 22 patients and 30 knees were followed-up. Of these, 7 were male and 15 were female patient. The average age was 57.15 years. The average preoperational VAS score, KSS functional score were 6.3 points, 33.5 points, respectively. According to KL grading, there were 18 knees of grade 2 and 2 knees of grade 3. The average post-operational VAS score, KSS functional score were 2.8 points and 83.7 points respectively. the medial joint space has improved significantly from preoperatively 1.15mm to postoperatively 3.4mm.
Conclusion: We thereby conclude by stating that PFO is a promising alternative procedure in the management of medial compartment arthritis of the knee. It is a simple, effective, easy to perform procedure which is cost effective and gives excellent pain relief postoperatively. It is associated with lesser complications and a shorter recovery period as compared to High tibial osteotomy and Unicondylar knee replacement.
