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Obesity Patient Are More Prone To Complications during Spinal Surgery

U.S. researcher's report- Obesity increases the risk that patients will suffer complications during spinal surgery.

A team lead by Dr. John Ratliff from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia reviewed 332 cases of thoracic and lumbar spinal surgery for routine degenerative conditions.

Among the patients, 71 percent were overweight, including 39 percent who were obese.

According to study author Dr. John Ratliff, assistant professor of neurological surgery and orthopedic surgery at Jefferson Medical College, Enormously overweight and obese patients were much more likely to suffer health problems such as blood clots, wound infections, heart problems, and deep vein thrombosis.

Non-obese patients had a complication rate of about 14 percent, compared to 20 percent for obese people (body mass index of 30 or more), and 36 percent for people with a BMI of 40.

"We found that the frequency of complications related directly to the degree of obesity. Not only does being obese hoist the risk of complications, but the greater the degree of obesity, the more the risk of having something go wrong around the time of surgery," Ratliff said in a prepared statement.

Dr. John said "The take-home message is, when considering elective spine surgery, a person who is extremely overweight might consider waiting a little and losing some weight,"

The study was presented this week at the Congress of Neurological Surgeons annual meeting, in Chicago.