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May 25th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda THURSDAY, May 24 (HealthDay News) — Morbidly obese patients who
undergo spinal fusion surgery have nearly double the risk of developing
complications and also face higher hospital costs, a new study says.
Spinal fusion surgery is an increasingly common operation for spinal
pain. People with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or greater are considered
morbidly (severely) obese. They are generally 50 to 100 percent over their
ideal body weight, or 100 pounds overweight. BMI is a calculation based on
height and weight.
Stanford University researchers, led by Dr. P.S.A. Kalanithi, analyzed
data on nearly 85,000 hospital admissions for spinal fusion in California
between 2007 and 2008. Reporting May 15 in the journal Spine, they
said 2 percent of the patients were morbidly obese.
The complication rate for morbidly obese patients was nearly 14
percent, compared with almost 7 percent for other patients. This means
that morbidly obese patients had a 97 percent increased risk of
complications, including those related to the lung, heart and kidney, and
problems with wound healing, according to a journal news release.
The researchers also found that morbidly obese patients had higher
hospital costs ($109,000 vs. $85,000) and longer hospital stays (4.8 days
vs. 3.5 days).
The overall risk of death after spinal fusion surgery was low for all
patients, but was somewhat higher for morbidly obese patients. However,
the difference was significant for one type of spinal surgery called
posterior lumbar (lower spine) fusion. The death rate for that procedure
was 0.56 percent for morbidly obese patients and 0.16 percent for all
other patients.
While surgeons and patients should be aware of the increased risks for
morbidly obese patients, that does not mean that spinal fusion should not
be performed in these patients when they require it, the researchers
said.
More information
The North American Spine Society has more about spinal fusion.
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