Oct 8, 2014 2 min read

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A recent study finds nearly one-third of knee replacement patients don’t necessarily need them.

There are nearly 600,000 knee surgeries a year and there has been a 162 percent increase in Medicare patients obtaining knee replacements between 1991 and 2010. And yet a significant number of them, according to the study published in Arthritis & Rheumatology, are getting procedures that are unnecessary or “inappropriate.”

“I’d like to think unnecessary means medically excessive, meaning something has to be done, but not necessarily a jump to surgery or a full knee replacement,” St. Clair Hospital orthopedic surgeon Dr. Jon Tucker said.

The study, led by Dr. Daniel Riddle at Virginia Commonwealth University, determined 34 percent of a 175-person group had “inappropriate” surgeries.

Twenty-two percent were inconclusive and 44 percent were classified as appropriate. What the study pinned down then, is more objective criteria for knee replacement candidates, such as age and pain thresholds, needs to be obtained, and that would then help find what is behind the jump in surgeries.

The best candidates for full knee replacement could be in their early 30s with significant traumatic damage, Tucker said. And they could also be in their 50s and 60s with long-term wear and tear. The newer surgeries, like partial knee replacements, are good for a person in their 80s who can’t take a fully invasive procedure, he said.