Mayo Clinic: Obese Patients more Likely to Need Reoperation after Knee Replacements

Morbidly obese patients are more likely to contract an infection or need further surgery after receiving two-stage total knee replacements, according to a study in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. The study, published Sept. 17 by researchers at the Mayo Clinic, compared the outcomes of 37 morbidly obese patients with those of 74 non-obese patients following a minimum period of five years after the initial arthroplasty. The research showed that: 32% of morbidly obese patients needed revision surgery compared to 11% for the non-obese. This procedure involves replacing th...