High tibial osteotomy technique for knee osteoarthritis

In the article “Management of osteoarthritis of the knee in younger patients,”1 Khan and colleagues cite a Cochrane review from 20142 to support the position that tibial osteotomy “improved pain and function, although available evidence was of limited quality” in disabling osteoarthritis. The authors may have been wearing rosecoloured glasses when they read this exhaustive review.

In fact, Brouwer and colleagues2 conclude that “no evidence shows whether an osteotomy is more effective than alternative surgical treatment such as unicompartmental knee replacement or nonoperative treatment. So far, the results of this updated review do not justify a conclusion on benefit of specific high tibial osteotomy technique for knee osteoarthritis.”