1.Patient Reported and Structural Outcomes of Knee Joint Distraction versus High Tibial Osteotomy and Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Meta-Analysis
Tan D ; Angeles BS ; Braganza CL
Malaysian Orthopaedic Journal 2025;19(No. 3):72-82
Introduction: Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative
joint condition with significant global prevalence, often
resulting from inflammatory joint processes, trauma,
occupational stress, and obesity. While total knee
arthroplasty (TKA) effectively alleviates pain and restores
function, its limited lifespan and increased revision risk in
younger patients necessitate alternative joint-preserving
strategies. Emerging evidence highlights the potential of
approaches such as Knee Joint Distraction (KJD), High
Tibial Osteotomy (HTO), platelet-rich plasma therapy, and
radiofrequency ablation in managing knee OA. These noninvasive and joint-preserving interventions have
demonstrated efficacy in reducing OA-related pain and
improving patient outcomes.
Materials and methods: This study evaluated four
comparative studies focusing on KJD vs HTO and TKA in
the treatment of severe knee OA. Patient-reported outcomes
were assessed using validated tools, including the Western
Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index
(WOMAC), Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score
(KOOS), Intermittent and Constant Osteoarthritis Pain
(ICOAP) score, Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for pain,
EuroQol-5 Dimensions (EQ-5D), and Short Form-36 (SF36). Structural outcomes were quantified via Joint Space
Width (JSW), an indicator of cartilage preservation. Data
were analysed using Review Manager (RevMan) version 5,
with Cochrane’s Q test applied to evaluate heterogeneity.
Results were summarised using Forest plots, and statistical
significance was set at p < 0.05.
Results: Statistical analysis revealed significant differences
between KJD vs. HTO and TKA across all measured
outcomes. HTO and TKA demonstrated superior
improvements in WOMAC, KOOS, ICOAP, VAS, EQ-5D,
SF-36, and JSW. Despite these statistically significant
differences, the mean values were comparable, suggesting
KJD’s non-inferiority as a joint-preserving alternative. The
efficacy of non-invasive modalities in alleviating knee OA
symptoms further strengthens the argument for exploring
less invasive, cost-effective options for managing this
condition.
Conclusion: Knee Joint Distraction emerges as a promising
joint-preserving intervention, offering comparable pain relief
and functional improvement to HTO and TKA in the
management of severe knee OA. While HTO and TKA
showed marginally superior outcomes, KJD remains a viable
alternative for younger patients or those seeking to delay
TKA. Incorporating adjunctive treatments such as plateletrich plasma therapy or radiofrequency ablation may further
enhance outcomes, paving the way for multimodal and
individualised approaches to knee OA management.


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