Abstract:[Objective] To compare the clinical efficacy of navigation assisted high tibial osteotomy (NA-HTO) versus conventional free-hand HTO (FH-HTO). [Methods] A retrospective research was done on 40 patients who had knee osteoarthritis treated by HTO in our hospital. According to the preoperative doctor-patient communication, 20 patients received NA-HTO, while other 20 patients underwent FH-HTO. The perioperative, follow-up and imaging data of the two groups were compared. [Results] All patients in both groups had corresponding surgical procedures conducted successfully. Although the NA-HTO consumed significantly longer operation timer than the FHHTO group [(118.3±9.6) min vs (86.0±14.5) min, P<0.001], the former was significantly better than the latter in terms of fluoroscopic times [(23.9±2.9) vs (30.6±2.0), P<0.001), total incision length [(6.4±0.8) cm vs (8.2±1.0) cm, P<0.001], intraoperative blood loss [(68.5±16.3) mL vs (104.5±21.4) mL, P<0.001], ambulation time [(3.4±0.5) days vs (4.8±0.84) days, P<0.001] and hospital stay [(6.8±1.0) days vs (8.6±1.4) days, P<0.001]. The patients in both groups were followed up for more than 12 months, and the NA-HTO group resumed full weight-bearing activity significantly earlier than the FH-HTO group [(41.1±4.8) days vs (54.2±6.8) days, P<0.001]. The VAS, Lysholm, HSS scores and knee ROM were significantly improved in both groups over time (P<0.05). The NA-HTO group was significantly superior to the FH-HTO group in Lysholm [(69.2±3.2) vs (64.6±4.1), P<0.001] and HSS scores [(67.3±3.1) vs (62.0±1.7), P<0.001] one month postoperatively, whereas which became not statistically significant between the two groups 6 and 12 months after surgery (P>0.05). Regarding imaging, the femoro-tibial angle (FTA), medial proximal tibial angle (MPTA) and mechanical axis deviation (MAD were significantly improved at the last followup compared to those preoperatively (P<0.05). However, the posterior tibial slope (PTS) remained not significantly changed in the NA-HTO group (P>0.05), while significantly increased in the FH-HTO group (P<0.05). At the last follow-up, the NA-HTO was also proved significantly superior to the FH_HTO group regarding FTA [(172.7±1.0)° vs (174.9±1.7)°, P<0.001], PTS [(6.5±1.0)° vs (7.9±1.7)°, P=0.002] and MAD [(4.2±2.9) mm vs (7.9±4.5) mm, P=0.004]. [Conclusion] Compared with the conventional freehand HTO, the navigation assisted HTO has significant advantages in intraoperative accuracy, trauma reduction and alignment correction.