Twenty-four patients who had degenerative arthritis of the lateral
compartment of the knee that was associated with a valgus deformity and a
superolateral tilt of the joint line were treated by distal femoral varus
osteotomy. A surgical technique that was designed to produce a horizontal
joint line and a tibiofemoral angle of zero degrees is described. At an
average length of follow-up of four years, twenty-two of twenty-four
patients had a successful result as judged by our protocol for evaluation.
One osteotomy had to be revised for failure of fixation, and one patient
had a pulmonary embolism that had a satisfactory outcome after the
administration of anticoagulants. One patient required manipulation of the
knee at six months. The simple surgical technique that we used was
effective in realigning the femoral with the tibial axis in patients who
had a valgus deformity of the knee, a superolateral tilt of the joint line,
and osteoarthritis of the lateral compartment.