To investigate the progression of patellofemoral (PF) osteoarthritis (OA) after medial open-wedge high tibial osteotomy (OWHTO) and whether PF OA progression has an influence on clinical outcomes.
According to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analyses (PRISMA), EMBASE, PubMed, and Cochrane Library were searched in June 2020 for English-language studies that presented data on PF OA or cartilage degeneration before and after OWHTO. Descriptive statistics are presented.
Twenty studies comprising 1,173 patients were included. The mean age was 57.1 years (range 18-84) with 826 (70.4%) female. The mean follow-up was 27.1 months (range 7-144). Ten studies reported the trochlear International Cartilage Research Society (ICRS) scores, with each of these studies reporting a greater proportion of patients with grades 2-4 OA postoperatively compared with preoperatively (relative risk = 1.19-2.76, I
Level IV, systematic review of Level III-IV studies.
Patients appear to have progression of PF OA after medial OWHTO. However, there are currently insufficient studies with inconsistent measurements of outcomes to make meaningful conclusions regarding the impact of PF OA on clinical outcomes.