Editorial Volume 16 Issue 4 - 2025

High Tibial Osteotomy in the Modern Era - A Renaissance in Joint Preservation

Pratik Sunil Tawri*

Department of Orthopaedics, Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, India

*Corresponding Author: Pratik Sunil Tawri, Department of Orthopaedics, Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, India.
Received: August 11, 2025; Published: September 02, 2025



The evolution of knee surgery over the last half-century has been marked by a striking shift in philosophy. From an era where high tibial osteotomy (HTO) was the workhorse for medial compartment osteoarthritis (MCOA) [1], the orthopaedic pendulum swung heavily towards arthroplasty. The allure of predictable pain relief, early mobility, and reproducible outcomes with unicompartmental and total knee arthroplasty (TKA) led many to declare osteotomy a fading chapter in knee surgery. Yet, the story has taken an unexpected turn.

Keywords: High Tibial Osteotomy; Medial Compartment Osteoarthritis; Varus Knee; Joint Preservation; Functional Outcome; Long-Term Survival

  1. Jackson JP and Waugh W. “Tibial osteotomy for osteoarthritis of the knee”. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. British Volume 43B (1961): 746-751.
  2. Liu X., et al. “High tibial osteotomy: review of techniques and biomechanics”. Journal of Healthcare Engineering (2019): 8363128.
  3. Brouwer RW., et al. “Osteotomy for treating knee osteoarthritis”. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 12 (2014): CD004019.
  4. Sharma L., et al. “The role of knee alignment in disease progression and functional decline in knee osteoarthritis”. Journal of the American Medical Association 2 (2001): 188-195.
  5. Wright JM., et al. “High tibial osteotomy”. Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons 4 (2005): 279-289.
  6. Elson DW., et al. “High reliability in digital planning of medial opening wedge high tibial osteotomy, using Miniaci's method”. Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy 7 (2015): 2041-2048.
  7. Floerkemeier S., et al. “Outcome after high tibial open-wedge osteotomy: a retrospective evaluation of 533 patients”. Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy 1 (2013): 170-180.
  8. Akizuki S., et al. “The long-term outcome of high tibial osteotomy”. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. British Volume 90-B.5 (2008): 592-596.
  9. Gerrit Bode., et al. “Prospective 5-year survival rate data following open-wedge valgus high tibial osteotomy”. Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy 7 (2015): 1949-1955.
  10. Haviv B., et al. “Mid-term outcome of opening-wedge high tibial osteotomy for varus arthritic knees”. Orthopedics2 (2012): e192-e196.
  11. Sabzevari S., et al. “High tibial osteotomy: a systematic review and current concept”. Archives of Bone and Joint Surgery 3 (2016): 204-212.
  12. Puddu G., et al. “A plate for open wedge tibial and femoral osteotomies”. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery, Speciality day- The American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, Anaheim (1999).
  13. Diffo Kaze A., et al. “Biomechanical properties of five different currently used implants for open-wedge high tibial osteotomy”. Journal of Experimental Orthopaedics 1 (2015): 14.
  14. Daniel Goutallier PR., et al. “Influence of lower-limb torsion on long-term outcomes of tibial valgus osteotomy for medial compartment knee osteoarthritis”. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery 88-A.11 (2006): 2439-2447.
  15. EK Song., et al. “The complications of high tibial osteotomy”. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery British Volume9 (2010): 1245-1252.
  16. Bonnin MP., et al. “Can patients really participate in sport after high tibial osteotomy?”. Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy 1 (2013): 64-73.
  17. Lee DC and Byun SJ. “High tibial osteotomy”. Knee Surgery and Related Research 2 (2012): 61-69.
  18. Polat G., et al. “Long-term results and comparison of the three different high tibial osteotomy and fixation techniques in medial compartment arthrosis”. Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research 1 (2017): 44.

Pratik Sunil Tawri. “High Tibial Osteotomy in the Modern Era - A Renaissance in Joint Preservation”. EC Orthopaedics  16.4 (2025): 01-03.