A total of 29 consecutive knee joint arthroplasties in 24 patients who underwent previous high tibial osteotomy (HTO) for medial unicompartment osteoarthritis of the knee and followed up for a mean of 97 months were compared with a control group of 28 patients with 29 primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA) without previous HTO. Results for the osteotomy group were satisfactory in 96.5% of cases. In one patient loosening of the implant occurred after 37 months, which required prosthesis revision. Three patients underwent a further operation of secondary patella resurfacing for patella pain. The group without osteotomy reported a similar percentage of satisfactory results.