1. INTRODUCTION
High tibial osteotomy (HTO) has been an effective surgical method for
the treatment of moderate osteoarthritis of the medial compartment of
the knee.1,2,3 Re-alignment of a varus deformity of
the knee by HTO or total knee arthroplasty (TKA) inevitably changes the
alignment of the ankle joint.4,5 However, the effects
of these procedures on the ankle joint have not been well described.
Patients who suffer from degenerative osteoarthritis in both knee and
ankle joints on the same limb are occasionally encountered in clinical
practice. Osteoarthritis of the ankle is relatively rare compared to
that of the knee.6 Moreover, patients with concurrent
osteoarthritis and a varus deformity of both the knee and ankle in the
same leg are extremely rare.2 Here, we reported two
cases of patients with concurrent osteoarthritis of the knee and the
ipsilateral ankle in whom an HTO was performed, resulting in significant
clinical and radiographic improvement.