Medial Closing-Wedge Distal Femoral Osteotomy for Genu Valgum With Lateral Compartment Disease

Lateral compartment disease combined with valgus alignment can lead to progressive knee joint degeneration. In the symptomatic patient with isolated lateral compartment disease, a varus-producing distal femoral osteotomy can unload the diseased lateral compartment. This osteotomy may be combined with other cartilage or meniscal restorative techniques to optimize knee joint preservation and pain relief. The osteotomy can be performed with a medial closing-wedge or lateral opening-wedge technique. Both techniques have been reported to improve knee-related quality of life in patients with lateral compartment disease. Advantages of the medial closing-wedge technique are direct bone apposition leading to inherent stability of the construct, as well as reliable bony healing, and less hardware irritation. Advantages of the lateral opening-wedge technique are a single bony cut and therefore more of an ability to adjust correction intraoperatively. However, this technique requires bone grafting and has a high rate of hardware irritation or removal. We present a surgical technique for the medial closing-wedge distal femoral osteotomy using an anteromedial-distal femoral locking plate.