Surgical treatment of patients with gonarthrosis and varus deformity of the knee using the Ilizarov fixator

Introduction. Arthroplasty in current orthopaedics is very popular for treatment of patients with gonarthrosis. But the interest in correcting osteotomies doesn’t disappear as well. Purpose. To analyze the effectiveness of treating gonarthrosis mainly affecting the knee medial part using different types of high tibial osteotomies with biomechanical axis recovery. Materials and Methods. We considered the issues of surgical treating severe gonarthrosis with the medial knee primary involvement by performing tibial osteotomies in the proximal third and fibular osteotomies - in the distal third using the Ilizarov fixator. Treatment results analyzed in 60 patients at the age of 50-75 years (64±0.5 years) with gonarthrosis who underwent correcting subcondylar osteotomy. The absence of the knee pain was the main criterion of treatment effectiveness. Results. The achieved result maintained up to seven years. Conclusion. The proposed technique of treatment allows recovering limb biomechanical axis and thereby normalizing the load on the medial joint. This technique is used practically throughout the world including the best European clinics.