Joint Preservation Surgery for Medial Compartment Osteoarthritis

Single compartment osteoarthritis is a commonly encountered condition in the middle-aged population, with the medial compartment being the most commonly involved compartment. Medial compartment osteoarthritis becomes seriously disabling for these active patients, with a very few definitive solutions. These patients quickly stop responding to the conservative methods such as lifestyle modification, drugs, physiotherapy, and rehab programs. Less invasive procedures such as intra-articular injections or joint debridement also do not give a long-lasting relief. On the other hand, this population is too young to undergo a knee replacement surgery because the failure rate of a knee replacement surgery is too high in the middle-aged patients as compared with the elderly population. A combination of biological stimulation of the damaged single compartment cartilage and biomechanical correction surgery can give a long-lasting relief in the middle-aged population. Because the medial compartment osteoarthritis is increasingly being treated with joint preservation surgeries, it is important to lay out the step-by-step surgical technique of a joint preservation surgery. This Technical Note presents the detailed technique, patient selection flow chart, tips, pearls, and surgical decision making, along with a surgical video of a joint preservation surgery.