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San Diego Hosts World's Largest Meeting Of Orthopedic Surgeons

San Diego Hosts World's Largest Meeting Of Orthopedic Surgeons
More knees are being replaced than ever before and younger people are the beneficiaries. That's one topic on tap at a huge gathering of orthopedic surgeons in San Diego this week.

Artificial knees and hips will be topics of conversation in San Diego this week. The city will host the world's largest gathering of orthopedic surgeons.

Some 30,000 people are expected at the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons meeting. They'll be attending workshops on such topics as spine injuries among children and the benefits of weight loss before surgery.

Harvard Medical School professor Elena Losina will present research on the growth of knee-replacement surgeries. She said the number of procedures has doubled in the last 10 years.

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"What we found is that the growth in population size and obesity, and even accounting for the knee injuries, cannot quite explain this dramatic increase."

Losina said the largest increase in knee replacements is among 45 to 64 year olds. She said the operation has traditionally been performed on older patients.