For patients with severe obesity undergoing knee or hip replacement, commonly obtained laboratory values – including markers of anemia and inflammation – are independent predictors of the risk of periprosthetic joint infection (PJI), reports a study in The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer. Hemoglobin level, platelet count, and several markers of systemic inflammation may be relevant to the elevated rates of PJI following total joint arthroplasty among patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 kg/m2 or higher, according to the new research by Nathanael D.
Heckmann, MD, and colleagues of Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. "These findings may help surgeons risk-stratify morbidly obese patients, who represent a growing high-risk TJA population," the researchers write. An increasing proportion of patients undergoing total hip or knee arthroplasty have morbid obesity.
Many studies have found that these patients are at an elevated risk of PJI, up to five times higher than in normal-weight patients. Dr. Heckmann and colleagues sought to identify preoperative laboratory markers associated with an increased risk of PJI among patients with morbid obesity.
The analysis included 6,780 patients with a BMI of 40 or higher who underwent total knee or hip arthroplasty, as identified with use of data from a national insurance claims database. The analysis focused on laborato.
