Knee Preservation (HTO)

Act now before it's too late

Osteoarthritis of the knee is a troublesome and disabling disorder. A few years ago, there were not very many options other than arthroplasty (joint replacement) for knee pain. Joint replacement for osteoarthritis is the ultimate treatment option even now, but only for those who are above 60 years of age and for those who are not going to put lot of load on the artificial joints.

For a young patient of less than 60 years, or a very active person or a person involved in demanding sports, who has pain in the knee joint, especially on walking or prolonged standing and is beginning to loose the cartilage cushion in the knee on x-ray, the High Tibial Osteotomy (HTO) is the procedure which adds life to the knee.

When the cartilage cover is lost, bones of the knee joint start to grind on each other giving rise to pain and overloading one side of the joint. The general tendency is to ignore the pain or take painkillers and continue with the daily activities. As this goes on, the knees get worn out and then there is nothing much left to do other than a joint replacement. But if tackled in the initial stages by HTO one gets complete relief from pain, the degenerative process slows down and one can lead a healthy and active lifestyle. Once HTO is done, depending on the initial damage a joint replacement surgery can be postponed either by about 15 years or may not require a knee replacement altogether.