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Patients who have kept their weight in check have a better chance of successful knee replacement surgery, according to a study reported in the August issue of the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery.
About 267,000 total knee replacements are performed in the United States each year. Many are performed on patients who are obese since obesity has been linked to degenerative knee joint disease.
The researchers compared the outcomes of 78 total knee replacements in patients who were obese, defined as having a body mass index of 30 or more to the same number of replacements in a group of patients who were not obese.
Although the success rates of knee replacement surgery are still relatively high for obese patients at 88 percent, they were still lower than that of non-obese patients at 99 percent.
"Nearly nine out of 10 is still a decent success rate," says study author Michael A. Mont, M.D., director of the Center for Joint Preservation and Reconstruction at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore. “But patients need to be aware that if they can get their weight down, they might increase their likelihood of success."
Source: Medical Week staff, week of August 9, 2004
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