Comparison of joint awareness after medial unicompartmental knee arthroplasty and high tibial osteotomy: a retrospective multicenter study

Introduction Unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) and high tibial osteotomy (HTO) are established treatments for medial compartment osteoarthritis (OA) or osteonecrosis (ON) of the knee joint, and the predominance of either procedure is inconclusive. We compared the awareness of the knee after UKA and HTO using the Forgotten joint score-12 (FJS). Materials and methods This was a retrospective, multicenter study. Ninety-six knees of 90 patients who received UKA or HTO and were followed-up for at least 1 year were analyzed. Postoperative FJS was compared between the two groups and evaluated for the effect of patient-related factors and clinical outcomes. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to predict FJS. Results There was no significant difference in the FJS between the UKA and HTO groups ( p = 0.24). FJS did not correlate with any of the patient-related factors. There was a correlation between the FJS and each item of the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Scores (KOOS) and Lysholm Knee Scoring Scale (LKS). In multiple linear regression analysis, lower BMI, the diagnosis of OA Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) grade ≥ 3, and ON were significant predictors of better FJS. In both groups, FJS was correlated with each item of the KOOS and LKS. Internal consistency in terms of Cronbach’s alpha was excellent. Conclusions There was no significant difference in FJS between patients who underwent UKA and HTO. Lower BMI, the diagnosis of OA KL grade ≥ 3, and ON were significant predictors of better FJS.