How to Perform a Below-Knee Amputation

Abstract

Eventhough modern techniques have improved patient survival and limb salvage rates in patients with critical limb ischaemia and end-stage vascular disease, amputation is sometimes the only possible treatment. In younger patients with traumatic avulsion of a foot, infected gangrene of the foot or a peripheral tumour, amputation is out of discussion and commonly accepted. In older vascular patients, amputation should rather be considered as the starting point for revalidation and rehabilitation than as failure of a revascularization technique. The evolution in prostheses permits a rapid revalidation in most patients. However, an accurate amputation technique is still required to produce a good quality stump allowing early fitting of prosthetics.

Key Words:

• Below-knee amputation
• gangrene
• revalidation
• vascular

Additional information

Notes on contributors

C. Randon

C. Randon Department of thoracic and vascular surgery Ghent University Hospital De Pintelaan 185 B-9000 Gent, Belgium