Patient Reported and Structural Outcomes of Knee Joint Distraction versus High Tibial Osteotomy and Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Meta-Analysis.

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 non-invasive and joint-preserving interventions have demonstrated efficacy in reducing OA-related pain and improving patient outcomes. Material 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 (SF-36). 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 platelet-rich plasma therapy or radiofrequency ablation may further enhance outcomes, paving the way for multimodal and individualised approaches to knee OA management.