Reply to Letter to the Editor Referring to Article “Retorno ao Esporte após Osteotomia Tibial Alta com Método de Cunha de Abertura” – Nicolini AP, Christiano ES, Abdalla RJ, Cohen M, Carvalho RT

We appreciate the considerations made regarding out our article. Our aim was to present a series of cases of athletes submitted to upper tibial osteotomy surgery and to analyze their return to sport compared with the preoperative level. Because it is a specific audience attended by a center specialized in athletes, the authors found the work and publication pertinent.

The literature is relatively scarce on this subject. Hoorntje et al.,[1] in 2017, conducted a systematic review on the subject and found only 18 studies in the world literature on return to sport after high tibial osteotomy.

In relation to the criticism presented, we carried out a bibliographic search of articles and journals exclusively indexed in the Medline/PubMed database, not performing an extensive search on other search engines and databases, since this was not the purpose of our research and publication. That is the reason the following article is not included in the references and was not used for our research: De Carvalho Jr et al.[2] “Physical Activity after High Tibial Osteotomy for Treatment of Medial Compartment Knee Osteoarthritis”, Rheumatology (Sunnyvale) 2016;6:2. http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2161-1149.1000200; since it is not in the database used.

The authors used only the PubMed platform trying to obtain the most reliable publication in the literature, avoiding even studies of predatory literature. In the article “Readers beware! Predatory journals are infiltrating citation databases” Anna Severin et al., 2019,[3] International Journal of Public Health, the PubMed and Scopus platforms are the most reliable for searching for literature and avoiding predatory literature.

Regarding the aforementioned work (De Carvalho Jr et al.),[2] it does present a very relevant sample with 174 patients submitted to the procedure of high tibial osteotomy and subsequent analysis on the return to sports activities; however, unfortunately, it was published in a journal not indexed by the platforms we used and does not appear in the systematic review that was reported in our article.

Usually, in systematic reviews, the search engine is broader, more extensive, comprising several databases; not being, once again, the focus of our publication.

Four Brazilian papers were cited, two published in the Acta Ortopédica Brasileira and two in the Revista Brasileira de Ortopedia: Avakian et al[4] and Saggin et al.,[5] Mello Junior et al.,[6] Gomes et al.,[7] stimulating and using the national literature, contrasting the above in the criticism performed and in the cited publication - Giordano et al.[8] (Rev Bras Ortop 2021;56(2):154–160), “Brazilian authors do not mention Brazilian authors: Nothing has changed since 1994”.

No conflict of interest has been declared by the author(s).

• Referências

• 1 Hoorntje A, Witjes S, Kuijer PPFM. et al. High Rates of Return to Sports Activities and Work After Osteotomies Around the Knee: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports Med 2017; 47 (11) 2219-2244
• 2 De Carvalho Júnior LH, Soares LFM, Gonçalves MBJ. et al. Physical Activity after High Tibial Osteotomy for Treatment of Medial Compartment Knee Osteoarthritis. Rheumatology (Sunnyvale) 2016; 6: 2 DOI: 10.4172/2161-1149.1000200.
• 3 Severin A, Low N. Readers beware! Predatory journals are infiltrating citation databases. Int J Public Health 2019; 64 (08) 1123-1124
• 4 Avakian R, Severino NR, Cury RPL, Oliveira VM, Aihara T, Camargo OPA. High Tibial Osteotomy In PatientsWith Knee Arthrosis. Acta Ortop Bras 2008; 16 (03) 152-156
• 5 Saggin JI, Severo A, Borges JLP. Osteotomia valgizante proximal da tíbia no tratamento da osteoartrose. Rev Bras Ortop 1996; 31 (05) 383-388
• 6 Mello Junior WA, Arruda LRP, Coluccini AM. et al. Complicações da osteotomia em cunha de abertura medial do joelho: estudo retrospectivo. Rev Bras Ortop 2011; 46 (01) 64-68
• 7 Gomes JLE, Ruthner RP, Marczyk LRS. Osteotomia valgizante de tíbia com placa “calço” de Puddu: apresentação de técnica. Acta Ortop Bras 2000; 8 (03) 134-139
• 8 Giordano V, Lyra J, Bonadiman JA, Lech O. Os autores brasileiros não citam os autores brasileiros: Nada mudou desde 1994. Rev Bras Ortop 2021; 56 (02) 154-160

Publication History

Received: 19 August 2021

Accepted: 19 August 2021

Article published online:
28 October 2021