Lower limb amputation for ischaemia with special reference to the diabetic patient: The ultimate goal after amputation is rehabilitation to the limit of what the patient can achieve.

Abstract

Amputations of the lower limb are frequently referred to in historical treatises, related especially to the surgery of trauma and war, particularly sea battles. One is only too familiar with the ‘pegleg and parrot’ image. In modern times the approach has become more scientific, and the whole philosophy when amputation is considered is that rehabilitation to the limit of what the patient can achieve is the ultimate goal. The patient must be left with an amputation stump that can bear weight and, when necessary, to which a prosthesis can be fitted. The scope of what follows is not intended to be a detailed text on amputation, but to provide some insight for the clinician, based on general experience with amputation over a number of years.