Abstract
Purpose: The barrel – vault tibial osteotomy by Maquet proves to be a solution when dealing with osteoarthritic knees in varus deformity in young adults.
Material – method : 60 knees from 60 patients operated from January 2000 until October 2002. 50 of them where females 52 –72 (m.a. 59 y.o.),(35 right knees and 15 left knees) and 10 males 48 –72 y.o. (m.a. 56 y.o.),(7 right knees – 3 left knees).
The type of operation in which they were subjected was barrel – vault tibial osteotomy (Maquet’s technique) and stabilization of the tibial with a particular external fixation system (STAR) for tibial osteotomy. The stability of the fixation with this system was proved to be absolutely satisfactory and permits immediate mobilization of the patient’s knee and of the patient himself. The entire system is removed 8 weeks post- operatively.
Results : All patients have been improved both from the point of mobility and subjective complains.
Conclusions : The use of the STAR external fixation system for the tibial osteotomy creates tibial stability which allows the immediate post – operative mobilization both of the suffering knee and of the patient as well.
The abstracts were prepared by Eleni Koutsoukou. Correspondence should be addressed to him at the Hellenic Association of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology (HAOST), 20, A. Fleming str, 15123 Marousi, Athens, Greece.
