• Felix Greimel, Guenther Maderbacher, Clemens Baier, Bernd Krieg, Florian Zeman, Joachim Grifka, and Armin Keshmiri.
• Department of Orthopedics, University Medical Center Regensburg, Asklepios Klinikum Bad Abbach, Kaiser-Karl-V.-Allee 3, 93077, Bad Abbach, Germany. felix.greimel@ukr.de.
• Arch Orthop Trauma Surg. 2022 Jan 1; 142 (1): 13-21.

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to quantify the influence of medial open wedge high tibial osteotomy on patellar kinematics using optical computer navigation, as anterior knee pain infrequently occurs postoperatively and the reason is still being unknown.MethodsTen medial open wedge high tibial osteotomies at supratuberosity level in 5 full body specimens were performed. The effect of the surgical procedure on patellar kinematics, measured at 5 and 10 degrees of leg alignment correction angle, was analyzed and compared to native patellar kinematics during passive motion-regarding patella shift, tilt, epicondylar distance and rotation. Linear mixed models were used for statistical analysis, a two-sided p value of ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant.ResultsTilt behavior, medial shift and epicondylar distance did not show a significant difference regarding natural patellar kinematics at both osteotomy levels. Both osteotomy correction angles showed a significant less external rotation of the patella (p < 0.001, respectively) compared to natural kinematics.ConclusionsExcept less external rotation of the patella, medial open wedge high tibial osteotomy does not seem to relevantly alter patellar alignment during passive motion. Future clinical studies have to prove the effect of MOWHTO on patellar kinematics measured in this experimental setup, especially regarding its influence on anterior knee pain.© 2020. The Author(s).

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