High Tibial Osteotomy (HTO)

Dr. Richard Cunningham, M.D. of Vail Summit Orthopaedics explains and performs High Tibial Osteotomy and Osteochondritis Dissecans Lesion Surgery.

A painful osteoarthritic knee in a middle-aged recreational patient is one of the most difficult problems to manage. Initially, all patients should be treated conservatively; however, when pain worsens as the osteoarthritis progresses, surgical treatment should be considered. There are two major types of osteoarthritis in the middle aged-post traumatic and non-traumatic. Post-traumatic osteoarthritis occurs in patients who have had a previous knee injury as a young adult and may have had their meniscus, or part of it removed surgically. Non-traumatic osteoarthritis occurs in patients who have not had a previous knee injury and in whom the osteoarthritis is strongly genetically determined. Such patients often report a family history of early osteoarthritis.