Controlling your weight before and after knee replacement surgery is important no matter what type of surgery you undergo, but new research suggests that it’s especially important if you are considering partial knee replacement surgery.
A recent study published in The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery found that patients with a higher body mass index (BMI) had higher revision rates when pursuing a cemented unicompartmental knee replacement procedure. However, the same findings were not found when analyzing cementless partial knee replacement, suggesting that patients with a higher BMI may benefit from the cementless procedure.
Partial Knee Replacement And BMI
For the study, researchers tracked BMI and revision rates for patients undergoing a partial knee replacement procedure where the medial compartment of the knee joint was replaced with a prosthesis. For the right patient, a partial knee replacement procedure is preferred to a total knee replacement operation because it preserves more natural knee components. However, the new findings suggest that orthopedic surgeons need to pay extra attention to the possibility of surgery issues in patients with a higher BMI who are pursuing a cemented partial knee replacement.
When comparing the two operations among patients with different BMIs, researchers found that the overall revision risk for cemented partial knee replacement was about 25 percent higher in the group with BMI between 25 and 30 and 43 percent higher in patients with a BMI over 30 compared to those with a BMI between 18.5 and 25. Interestingly, patients in the higher BMI groups actually had lower revision rates compared to the smallest BMI group when looking at the cementless partial knee replacement procedure, suggesting heavier patients may be better off pursuing the cementless procedure if possible.
“[C]ementless fixation may be preferable to cemented fixation in [higher-BMI] patients,” said lead author Dr. Hasan Mohammad and co-authors.
Being overweight or obese is one of the leading contributing factors to needing a knee replacement procedure in the first place, but it’s clear that carrying extra weight can also complicate the procedure and your recovery.
If you need help working towards a healthy weight prior to your knee replacement procedure, or you want to talk to a knee replacement surgeon about what you can do to ensure that your knee arthroplasty is a success, reach out to Dr. Botero and his team today, For more information, give his office a call today at (865) 558-4400.
