Major Limb Amputations

Posted by James

INTRODUCTION

The indications for limb amputations are generally considered as the three Ds: dead limb, deadly limb and a damn nuisance of a limb. The most common indications for limb amputation vary from study to study: trauma, complications of diabetes mellitus and peripheral vascular disease.

There is a growing aggressive policy of revascularization in the developed world with various procedures being advocated in an attempt at revascular-izing an ischemic limb even in poor candidates. Medicolegal issues sometimes influence decisionmaking as to whether to salvage or amputate a limb. The decision to perform limb salvage or primary amputation is thus a crucial one for the surgeon to make, and it is imperative that the surgeon makes a good initial decision.

This study sought to evaluate the indications for the amputations carried out in our hospital and also to assess which cases might have been amenable to salvage procedures if facilities and skilled manpower existed.
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AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

This study was carried out to audit the cases of amputation performed at the authors’ institution between June 1998 and May 2003 so as to ascertain the indications for amputation and to evaluate which cases could have been salvaged.