While the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons do not have hard body-mass index cutoffs for operating on patients, many providers have their own self-imposed cutoffs, according to a Sept. 4 report from The New York Times.
In a survey published last year, less than half of orthopedic surgeons said they would operate on a patient with a BMI over 40. However, in 2018 more than 22 million American adults fell into that category.
Only 11% of surgeons would operate on one of the 3.9 million Americans with a BMI over 50, while just 3% of U.S. orthopedists would operate on a patient with a BMI over 55.
“Obese patients bleed more. They have more wound healing issues. More infections. More general complications. They have more reoperations. This occurs even in the most skilled hands. I’ve been a spine surgeon for 23 years and done more than 10,000 cases, but BMI patients [with BMI greater than 40] have more complications that I cannot control. It’s operator independent,” Lali Sekhon, MD, a neuro and spine surgeon at Reno (Nev.) Orthopedic Center, told Becker’s.
Published on September 17, 2024
