Federal Panel gives high marks to joint-replacement surgery

[Guest guest]

In today's (Dec 16, 2003) NYTimes there is an article in the Science

Times section on the results of a Federal panel studying joint-

replacement.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/16/health/policy/16KNEE.html

Full-text will be online for 7 days. The first paragraph says:

" Despite excruciating pain and decreased mobility, many people with

knees damaged by arthritis put off joint-replacement surgery out of

fear and uncertainty. But last week, a federal panel found that

replacing a diseased joint with artificial parts quickly relieved

pain and improved mobility and quality of life in 90 percent of the

patients. "

Proceedings of the conference are available at consensus.nih.gov