Proximal tibial osteotomy with compression plate fixation for tibia vara

A surgical technique for the accurate intraoperative correction of tibia vara deformities with maintainence of postoperative alignment is presented. This was a retrospective study of 13 knees of nine patients with tibia vara deformities treated by proximal tibial and fibular osteotomies using compression-plate fixation. Average age of the patients was 9 + 1 years, with a range of 3 + 1 to 14 + 11 years. The average preoperative deformity was 20 degrees of varus with a range of 15-36 degrees. Average follow-up was 3 + 3 years, with a range of 2 to 4 + 1 years. All patients had intraoperative correction to an average valgus of 5 degrees (range 4-8 degrees valgus), with an overall valgus correction of 25 degrees (range 20-40 degrees). There was one reoperation for unilateral recurrence of deformity in a child who progressed from stage III to stage VI postoperatively. Proximal tibial osteotomy with compression-plate fixation provides an accurate and reliable method for the correction of multiplanar deformities in children and adolescents.