amputation

With a amputation living is not always easy and must be mastered with a lot of strength. This not only affects the physical limitations, but also the psychological and emotional stress that those affected have to cope with.

What is an amputation?

A amputation is a process in which one or more parts of the body are lost. In this context, an amputation may be medically necessary and a treatment measure, or the amputation is caused by an accident.

Since an amputation occurs to different degrees, major, minor and border amputations are differentiated from one another in medicine. In addition, it may be necessary to perform an emergency amputation to save lives. The most common amputations are performed on the arms and legs.

Function, effect & goals

A amputation can become medically necessary if, for example, diabetes mellitus, cancer and circulatory disorders have been diagnosed or if accident care is provided.

For the surgical implementation of the amputation, different procedures are carried out depending on the limb or area of ​​the amputation. One goal of a professional medical amputation is to ensure a high quality supply of a replacement prosthesis. As a rule, after an amputation, what is known as a stump or an end member remains, which forms the basis for the prosthesis.

When proceeding with an amputation, it is necessary to initiate an anesthetic accompaniment to the patient in order to eliminate the sensation of pain. After that, during an amputation, the different layers of tissue in the skin, muscles and bony components have to be severed. The skin flaps are sewn together over the rest of the bone so that the wound heals as quickly as possible. The bones are usually sawed through surgically.

Subsequent intensive wound care by draining tissue water and fluid secretions from the wound means that draining tubular drainages are used. This is the only way to minimize scarring and other complications after an amputation. Since the severed tissue also includes the nerves, this can lead to so-called phantom pain in the further course.

In practice, unless it is an emergency amputation, only as much of a limb is removed as is absolutely necessary. Not only hard limbs with bones, but also soft tissues can under certain circumstances be amputated. In this context, for example, the breasts of cancer patients, amputations of the penis or other components.

If blood vessels are opened by cutting off the corresponding organs, these are coagulated with modern devices and thus quickly closed. However, amputation can be accompanied by immense blood loss, so a blood transfusion is useful. Follow-up care after an amputation includes regular assessment and treatment of the wound on the stump, pain therapy and psychological treatment, physiotherapy training and the adjustment of the prosthesis.

Before this, the sutures are pulled and the scar tissue is treated further. The scars after an amputation should not harden too much and should heal as evenly as possible, because this improves the prognosis for a prosthetic restoration.

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Risks & dangers

A amputation does not come without risks or complications. Even a minor amputation, a small amputation of a phalanx, can become a major problem due to bacterial inflammation. In addition, there are the usual anesthetic risks and complications from impaired wound healing.

This disadvantage usually arises in the case of an amputation when the patient is physically weakened and the immune defense is reduced. Circulatory disorders can also cause delayed wound healing. The healing of the wound after an amputation can also take a problematic course if there are certain previous illnesses such as diabetes mellitus. A sudden drop in blood pressure can also occur during the amputation surgery, which is rare but possible.

Subsequent to an amputation, phantom pain and a certain sensitivity to the weather on the scar cannot be ruled out. If a missing limb leads to improper and overloading of other systems, joint complaints can occur. Sometimes those affected by an amputation cannot psychologically cope with this limitation or massive problems arise when using the prosthesis.