Morbidly Obese Patients Undergoing Unicompartmental Knee Arthroplasty Compared to Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Retrospective Case-Controlled Analysis

Jun 10, 2023The Journal of arthroplasty

Comparison of partial versus total knee replacement outcomes in severely obese patients

AI simplified

GLP-1 Therapies on OpenScience ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Abstract

Morbidly obese patients undergoing unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) had lower medical complications compared to those undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA).

UKA patients experienced significantly fewer medical complications, readmissions, and periprosthetic joint infections than TKA patients.
TKA patients had longer hospital stays, averaging 3.0 days compared to 2.4 days for UKA patients.
The average cost of care was significantly higher for TKA patients at $12,869 compared to $7,105 for UKA patients.
Morbidly obese UKA patients had similar rates of medical complications but significantly lower readmissions compared to TKA patients with a BMI <40.
UKA patients showed greater odds of mechanical loosening compared to TKA patients.

AI simplified

BACKGROUND: In this study, we assess the effects that morbid obesity (body mass index (BMI) ≥ 40) has on: (1) Ninety-day medical complications and readmission rates; (2) costs of care and lengths of stay (LOS); and (3) 2-year implant complications in patients undergoing unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) versus total knee arthroplasty (TKA).

METHODS: A retrospective query of TKA and UKA patients were identified using a national database. Morbidly obese UKA patients were matched 1:5 to morbidly obese TKA patients by demographic and comorbidity profiles. Subgroup analyses were conducted using the same process between morbidly obese UKA patients and BMI <40 TKA patients, as well as to BMI <40 UKA patients.

RESULTS: Morbidly obese patients who underwent UKA had significantly fewer medical complications, readmissions, and periprosthetic joint infections than TKA patients; however, UKA patients had greater odds of mechanical loosening (ML). The TKA patients had significantly longer LOS (3.0 versus 2.4 days, P < .001), as well as significantly greater costs of care than UKA patients ($12,869 versus $7,105). Morbidly obese UKA patients had similar rates of medical complications, and significantly lower readmissions, decreased LOS, and decreased costs when compared to TKA patients who had a BMI <40.

CONCLUSION: In patients who have morbid obesity, complications were decreased in UKA compared to TKA. Moreover, morbidly obese UKA patients had lower medical utilizations and similar complication rates when compared to TKA patients with the recommended cutoff of BMI <40. However, UKA patients had greater rates of ML than TKA patients. A UKA may be an acceptable treatment option for unicompartmental osteoarthritis in morbidly obese patients.

Full Text

Full text is available at the source.

View full text (XML) ↗View full text ↗

Morbidly Obese Patients Undergoing Unicompartmental Knee Arthroplasty Compared to Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Retrospective Case-Controlled Analysis

Abstract

Full Text

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the glp-1 therapies brief

Abstract

Full Text

Related papers

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the glp-1 therapies brief