A Clinical Experience of the Barrel - Vault Osteotomy for Osteoarthritis of the knee

In osteoarthritis of the knee with varus deformity, abnormal stress is concentrated in the medial compartment of the knee joint. A logical treatment must decrease and recenter the force acting on the knee in order to distribute the compressive stresses evenly over the largest possible weight-bearing articular surfaces. This can be attained by an overcorrection of the deformity. The technique of a Barrel-Vault osteotomy is the correction of severe angular deformity of the knee and the reduction of the patellofemoral joint pressure simultaneously by an anterior displacement of the distal fragment. From 1986 to 1989, the authors studied the preoperative clinical status and lpostoperative results in twelve knees(nine patients) who had had a Barrel-Vault osteotomy for combined medial and patellofemoral disease. The total Insall Knee Rating Score improved from a preoperative mean 54.1 to 85.4 Points at the last assessment. The pain component score improved from a preoperative mean 6.6 to 26.2 points at the last assessment. Eleven kness had either no pain or occasional mild pain. The tibiofemoral angle was corrected from a preoperative mean of 4.4 degrees of varus to a mean of 11.2 degrees of valgus at the last assessment.