[Surgical correction of deformities of the knee joint]

Fifty-nine knee joint deformities were corrected by supracondylar (24 surgeries) and subcondylar (35 cases) osteotomies. Stable fixation with massive submerged implants and Ilizarov's devices promoted a functional management during the postoperative period. Osteotomies are advisable before degenerative dystrophic changes develop in the joint. It should be borne in mind that arthrosis severity and advanced age of the patients are not contraindications against corrective osteotomies if the knee joint mobility is intact. The clinical result depends on the adequacy of the deformation hypercorrection. Despite the absence of an essential regression of degenerative changes in the joint, 35 of the 38 patients evidenced neither pain nor pain alleviation, and improvement of the motor activity in a year after surgery.