Information for Medical Professionals

Obesity makes knee replacement surgery 'more difficult to perform'

Performing knee replacement surgery on patients who are obese can be more difficult for medical professionals, an expert asserted.

William Walter, addressing the 2009 Current Concepts in Joint Replacement Spring Meeting, claimed that a higher weight increases a patient's risk of developing wound problems, Orthopedics Today reports.

"Obese patients get poorer range of motion but good pain relief and they do not wear their knees out," he asserted.

He claimed that problems in surgery include difficulties using tourniquets, although he said that different forms of incisions are sometimes used.

Mr Walter said that a midline or lateral cut often makes it easier to perform an eversion of the patella without encountering subcutaneous fat.

According to the source, special sutures or less-aggressive forms of rehabilitation could be used to address problems with wound healing in obese patients.

Research published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery has also reported that obesity has a poor impact on the outcomes of total knee replacement operations.

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