Proximal Tibial Osteotomies: Indications, Techniques, and Outcomes

High tibial osteotomy (HTO) is a surgical procedure that can be used as a primary or as an adjunctive treatment for a variety of knee pathologies, most commonly isolated medial compartment arthrosis in a knee with varus alignment. More recently, indications for HTO have been expanded to include its use in combination with cartilage preserving techniques, to offload the effected compartment, and in conjunction with ligamentous reconstruction. HTO also has utility in delaying total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in select patients with favorable literature on future TKA outcomes. Numerous techniques for HTO have been published, however, medial opening wedge and lateral closing wedge osteotomies remain the most common. The purpose of this article is to summarize HTO patient selection and indications, surgical techniques, common complications, and review outcomes from recent literature. (Journal of Surgical Orthopaedic Advances 32(3):148–155, 2023)

Key words: high tibial osteotomy, varus, knee, osteoarthritis, medial opening wedge, lateral closing wedge