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World J Crit Care Med. Feb 4, 2016; 5(1): 83-88
Published online Feb 4, 2016. doi: 10.5492/wjccm.v5.i1.83
Critical care of obese patients during and after spine surgery
Hossein Elgafy, Ryan Hamilton, Nicholas Peters, Daniel Paull, Ali Hassan
Hossein Elgafy, Ryan Hamilton, Nicholas Peters, Daniel Paull, Departments of Orthopedic, University of Toledo Medical Center, Toledo, OH 43614-5807, United States
Ali Hassan, Departments of Anesthesia, University of Toledo Medical Center, Toledo, OH 43614-5807, United States
Author contributions: All the authors contributed in outlining the manuscript, gathering the data, and writing the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None of the authors have any financial and other conflicts of interest that may bias the current study.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Hossein Elgafy, MD, MCH, FRCSED, FRCSC, Department of Orthopaedics, University of Toledo Medical Centre, 3065 Arlington Avenue, Toledo, OH 43614-5807, United States. hkelgafy@aol.com
Telephone: +1-419-3833515 Fax: +1-419-3833526
Received: July 30, 2015
Peer-review started: July 31, 2015
First decision: October 8, 2015
Revised: December 4, 2015
Accepted: December 18, 2015
Article in press: December 21, 2015
Published online: February 4, 2016
Processing time: 177 Days and 0.6 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Obesity is one of the most prevalent health problems facing the United States today. Due to technological advancements, the incidence of spine surgeries is also growing. This is particularly true for spinal fusion procedures, as rates were noted to triple from 1990 to 2000. There are potential increased complication risks during and after spine surgery due to associated comorbidities. Spine surgery can be performed safely in obese patients with appropriate management of comorbidities and proper patient selection.