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Controversy exists as to whether the level of amputation is adversely affected by
an unsuccessful limb salvage attempt. Two hundred ten amputations following failed
reconstruction attempts in 191 patients were studied and compared with 551 amputations
in limbs with no prior revascularization. Initially, 147 of those with failed reconstruction
attempts underwent below-knee (BK) amputation and 63 underwent above-knee (AK) amputation.
One hundred ten of 143 (77%) surviving BK amputations eventually healed. This is in
contrast to the eventual healing in 266 of 298 (89%) of the BK amputations performed
with no prior attempts at reconstruction. A statistically significant (p<0.05) difference
in eventual healing favoring those with no prior reconstruction was demonstrated.
Successful reconstruction of the ischemic extremity is the goal of vascular surgery
and should be attempted when indicated. However, it should be realized that unsuccessful
revascularization attempts may adversely affect healing in those limbs initially considered
for a BK amputation.
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Article info
Footnotes
2Presented at the 18th Annual Meeting of the Society for Clinical Vascular Surgery, Palm Desert, California, March 7–11, 1990.
Identification
Copyright
© 1990 Reed Publishing USA. Published by Elsevier Inc.
