Reducing weight and wait lists for osteoarthritis patients

Professor Wendy Brown consulting with a patient

A team of Melbourne researchers has discovered the significant positive impact of weight loss surgery for patients with obesity in delaying, and in some cases removing, the need for total knee joint replacement. Their study has been published in the prestigious journal JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association.

It is the first randomised trial of its kind in the world, funded by the NHMRC and led by Professor Peter Choong and Professor Michelle Dowsey from University of Melbourne / St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, in collaboration with Monash University’s Professor Wendy Brown and Dr Paul Burton, assessed the efficacy of substantial weight loss induced by bariatric surgery in reducing complication risk after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in patients with severe obesity and osteoarthritis.

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