Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Therapy

Opinion

A traumatic amputation can occur as a result of a car accident, an occupational or industrial mishap, or a military injury. Amputations due to trauma account for roughly 45 percent of all amputations. In a serious accident, a body component can be severed or pulled away, or it can be so extensively damaged from a crush injury or severe burns that it cannot be salvaged. If tissue deterioration, infection, or illness affects a body part in such a way that it cannot be repaired or puts the person's life in danger, the part may be surgically amputated.

Trauma or disease can induce tissue death by cutting off blood flow to a body part for an extended period of time, necessitating an amputation. Frostbite, for example, can cause blood vessel damage in the fingers and toes, prompting amputation.

Diabetes, amputation, and vascular disease are all conditions that can result in amputation

The consequences of vascular disorders and other ailments that influence blood flow, such as diabetes and peripheral artery disease, account for about 54 percent of all surgical amputations (PAD).

Tissue death in the toes, feet, and legs can be caused by chronic vascular issues. Nearly half of patients who have their limbs amputated due to these diseases' complications will die within five years of the treatment.

Amputation due to cancer

Amputations of a hand, foot, arm, or leg to prevent the spread of cancer account for less than 2% of all amputations. Sarcomas can affect bone and soft tissue in the limbs, and amputation may be required if the cancer is too large or aggressive to be removed, if it recurs, or if it reaches into the nerves or blood arteries.

Hip disarticulation is an amputation technique that removes the entire femur (thigh bone) from the pelvis and is used to treat advanced malignancies of the upper leg.

Severe Infection necessitates amputation

Septicemia, or blood poisoning, is another name for severe sepsis. It occurs when the body is overrun by drug-resistant germs, which then spread throughout the circulation. Sepsis can cause tissue death by disrupting blood flow, especially in the toes, fingers, hands, and feet. If antibiotics fail to manage the illness, severe sepsis can be fatal.

Meningococcal bacteria, which cause a deadly form of meningitis (inflammation of the brain and spinal cord coverings), are one cause of sepsis. MRSA, or methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureas, is a bacteria that can cause necrotizing soft tissue infection, or fasciitis. Amputation may be required to save a person's life if these or other serious illnesses occur in a bodily part that the patient can survive without.

Amputation due to a congenital defect

This is a term that refers to a missing or incompletely formed hand, foot, arm, or leg that is present from birth, rather than a procedure. If the child, parents, and care team believe it will improve the child's function and well-being, children born with congenital amputations may have surgery or be fitted with artificial limbs later in life.

Amputation Surgery Types

1. Amputations of the Upper Extremity

• Partial hand amputation: amputation of a portion of the hand.

• Below-the-elbow amputation: removing part of the lower arm by cutting across the bones of the lower arm

• Wrist disarticulation: detaching the hand from the lower arm at the wrist and removing it (radius and ulna)

• Elbow disarticulation: detaching the lower arm from the upper arm at the elbow and removing it.

• Above-the-elbow amputation: cutting across the upper arm bone to remove the lower arm, elbow, and a portion of the upper arm (humerus)

• Shoulder disarticulation: detaching the arm from the shoulder and then removing the complete arm.

• Amputation of the forequarter: the arm and a portion of the shoulder are removed (shoulder bones could include the clavicle and scapula)

2. Amputations of the Lower Extremity

• Partial amputation of the foot: removing a portion of the foot (there are many types of partial foot amputation)

• Ankle disarticulation: detaching the foot from the lower leg at the ankle and removing it.

• Below-the-knee amputation: cutting across the lower leg bones to remove the foot and a portion of the lower leg (tibia and fibula)

• Knee disarticulation: the lower leg is separated from the higher leg at the knee and removed.

• Amputation above the knee: the lower leg, knee, and a portion of the upper leg are removed by cutting over the upper leg bone (femur)

• Hip disarticulation: detaching the leg from the pelvis at the hip joint and removing the complete leg.

• Pelvic amputation, also known as hemipelvectomy, is the removal of the complete leg as well as a portion of the pelvic.

3. A double amputation is when hands, feet, arms, or legs are amputated.