Amputation Surgery

Four other dogs were treated with SOAz and cured in the same way. This brings real hope for the clinical treatment of osteosarcoma-bearing patients, especially as there is no chemotherapy available at all for such tumors and that surgery (amputation) is the only technique which might be able to delay death. Incidentally, it may be noted that 16,000 men and women died from osteosarcomas in 1980 in E.E.C. countries. . . ... 

Nikolajsen, L., Gottrup, H., Kristensen, A. G. D., Jensen, T. S. Memantine (a N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist) in the treatment of neuropathic pain after amputation or surgery a randomized, double-blinded, cross-over study, Anesth. Analg. 2000, 97, 960-966. 

Pain caused by functional abnormalities or structural lesions in the peripheral or central nervous system frequently arising from injury (e.g. surgery, accident or amputation), diseases (e.g. diabetes, herpes zoster or cancer), infarction or dysfunction of the nervous system. A damaged nerve may initiate signals in other nerves not associated with the injured area. It may either have a burning sensation or an aching sensation. 

During major surgery (such as laparotomy, thoracotomy, joint replacement, amputation), the patient should... 

Duda et al. prospectively studied 70 patients in the PROMPT trial of UK and abciximab versus UK alone. The trial showed the combination therapy resulted in a decreased infusion time, improved amputation free survival, and improved open surgery free survival at 90 days (46). Interestingly, a post hoc economic analysis of the PROMPT trial found an economic benefit to combination therapy at 90 days based on endpoints of amputation free survival, survival without open surgery, lack of major amputation and lack of major complications. The extra cost of abciximab was more than offset by the decreased costs through improved patient outcomes (47). 

British surgeon Joseph Lister (1827-1912) used dilute solutions of phenol to kill germs in wounds. He found that antiseptic surgery using phenol reduced the mortality rate from amputations by nearly 50%. Within the next decade. Lister s phenol-based antiseptic techniques revolutionized surgery. 

Gas gangrene. The skin between the waist and the knees is normally contaminated with anaerobic faecal organisms. However assiduous the skin preparation for orthopaedic operations or thigh amputations, this will not kill or remove all the spores. Surgery done for vascular insufficiency where tissue oxygenation may be poor is likely to be followed by infection. Gas gangrene (Clostridium perfringens) may occur it may be prevented by benzylpenicillin or metronidazole prophylaxis. 

Domagk became a medical student at Kiel and during World War I served in the army. After being wounded in 1914, he worked in the cholera hospitals in Russia. He noticed that medicine of the time had little success and was moved by the helplessness of the medical men of that time with cholera, typhus, diarrhea infections, and other infectious diseases, noting that surgery had little value in the treatment of these diseases. He also noticed that amputations and other radical treatments were often followed by severe bacterial infections. 

His surgeons offered little hope. He had gangrene, a rotting of tissue due to lack of oxygen, and the surgeons said an amputation of the left leg below the knee was necessary. If he refused the surgery, they would have to operate later and take off the entire leg—fix it now, or pay more later. 

Disorders of the foot are among the most common complications of diabetes, accounting for as many as 20% of all hospitalizations in diabetic patients at an annual cost of 200 to 350 million. Approximately 25% of diabetic patients experience significant soft tissue infection at some time during the course of their lifetime. Approximately 55,000 lower extremity amputations, often sequelae of uncontrolled infection, are performed each year on diabetic patients this represents 50% of all nontraumatic amputations in the United States. Between 10% and 20% of diabetics will undergo additional surgery or amputation of a second limb within 12 months of the initial amputation. By 5 years, this increases to 25% to 50%, with death reported in as much as two-thirds of patients. ... 

Beromun (rh TNF-a) E. coli Boehringer Ingelheim Adjunct to surgery for subsequent tumor removal, to prevent or delay amputation... 

Arterial surgery involving the abdominal aorta, a prosthesis, or a groin incision Lower-extremity amputation for ischemia... 

Murdoch, G. and Donovan, R.G. (Eds.). 1988. Amputation Surgery and Lower Limb Prosthetics. Boston, Blackwell Scientific Pubhcations. 

Amputation is defined as the removal, usually by surgery, of a limb, part, or organ. Its purpose is to remove dead or diseased tissue, to relieve pain, to obtain healing, and/or to rehabilitate the individual. If the amputation level is properly selected and the surgery is performed well, amputation should be considered not as a salvage procedure but as a rescue procedure that is the first step in rehabilitation. 

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