Assessment of articular cartilage of the lateral tibial plateau in varus osteoarthritis of the knee

This study describes the soft X-ray examinations of 24 lateral tibial plateaus obtained during total knee arthroplasty for varus osteoarthritis. The average thickness of the articular cartilage was 3.5 min and ranged from 2.1 to 5.0. We considered that 21 out of the 24 lateral tibial plateaus had well preserved articular cartilage. Within the well preserved articular cartilage, bony protuberances of various sizes were found in five cases. All lateral tibial plateaus except one showed osteophyte formation. We considered that 12 of the 24 lateral tibial plateaus had large osteophytes. Ten of these 12 lateral tibial plateaus had well preserved articular cartilage. Large osteophyte formation may not necessarily be a contra-indication of high tibial osteotomy (HTO) or unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA). Cases with a bony protuberance may not be suitable for HTO or UKA, because the overlying articular cartilage is thin and inadequate for supporting load.