Biomechanical Behavior Analysis of Tibia According to Types of Fractures in Opening Wedge High Tibial Osteotomy Based on Finite Element Method

Opening wedge high tibial osteotomy is widely used to treat medial compartment arthritis of the knee joint with varus deformity in patients. It can delay artificial joint replacement in patients suffering from arthritis and is a good treatment for fibrocartilage regeneration of the medial compartment. However, fractures may occur in the hinge part formed when performing the osteotomy, and bone grafting may be required; however, research on this is insignificant. Therefore, in this study, the change in the stress acting on the tibia was analyzed according to the shape of the fracture that might occur during opening wedge high tibial osteotomy. Consequently, the maximum and average values of the von Mises equivalent stress acting on cortical and cancellous bones were confirmed to increase in all fracture models. In addition, the stress acting on the cancellous bones was measured higher in the model with a fracture below the inclination angle than in the model with a fracture above the inclination angle.