iPedia Free Information Center

Information about Amputated

Enlarge picture
Partial hand amputation
Amputation is the removal of a body extremity by trauma or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on individuals as a preventative surgery for such problems. A special case is the congenital amputation, a congenital disorder, where foetal limbs have been cut off by constrictive bands. In some countries, amputation of the hands or feet was or is used as a form of punishment for criminals. Amputation has also been used as a tactic in war and acts of terrorism. In some cultures and religions, minor amputations or mutilations are considered a ritual accomplishment. Unlike many non-mammalian animals, (such as lizards which shed their tails), once removed, human extremities do not grow back. A transplant or a prosthesis are the only options for recovering the loss.[1]

History

Origins of the word

Amputation is derived from the Latin amputare, to cut away, from amb (about) and putare (to prune). The Latin word has never been recorded in a surgical context, being reserved to indicate punishment for criminals. The English word amputation was first applied to surgery in the 17th century, possibly first in Peter Lowe's A discourse of the Whole Art of Chirurgerie (published in either 1597 or 1612), his work was derived from 16th century French texts and early English writers also used the words "extirpation" (16th century French texts tended to use extirper), "disarticulation," and "dismemberment" (from the Old French desmembrer and a more common term before the 17th century for limb loss or removal), or simply "cutting." but by the end of the 17th century amputation had come to dominate as the accepted medical term.

Overview

The history of human amputation can be divided into a number of periods. Initially the many thousands of years when limb loss was the result of trauma or 'nonsurgical' removal. This was followed by the hesitant beginnings of surgical intervention, mainly on gangrenous limbs or those already terribly damaged, which developed through to surgical amputations around the 15th century, the distinction is marked by the choice of the patient and the aim of saving a life and achieving a healed stump, despite the difficulties with infection and the lack of effective control for pain or blood loss. Improvements in surgical techniques were married with better haemorrhage control in the 19th century and in the 1840s with anaesthesia and around twenty years later efficient infection control. The 20th century noted marked improvements in surgical techniques and also a move to increasingly sophisticated prosthetic limbs.

Types

Types of amputation include:
  • leg
  • amputation of digits
  • partial foot amputation (Chopart, Lisfranc)
  • ankle disarticulation (Syme, Pyrogoff)
  • below-knee amputation (transtibial)
  • knee-bearing amputation (knee disarticulation)
  • above knee amputation (transfemoral)
  • Van-ness rotation (Foot being turned around and reattached to allow the ankle joint to be used as a knee.)
  • hip disarticulation
  • hemipelvectomy
  • arm
  • amputation of digits
  • metacarpal amputation
  • wrist disarticulation
  • forearm amputation (transradial)
  • elbow disarticulation
  • above-elbow amputation (transhumeral)
  • shoulder disarticulation and forequarter amputation
  • Krukenberg procedure
  • teeth
  • The avulsion of some teeth (mainly incisives) is or was practiced by some cultures for ritual purposes (for instance in the Iberomaurusian culture of Neolithic North Africa).
Hemicorporectomy, or amputation at the waist, is the most radical amputation.

Genital modification and mutilation may involve amputating tissue (as the case is with circumcision), although not necessarily as a result of injury or disease.

As a rule, partial amputations are preferred to preserve joint function, but in oncological surgery, disarticulation is favored.

Reasons for amputation

  • Cancerous bone tumours (e.g. osteosarcoma, osteochondroma)
  • Severe limb injuries in which the limb cannot be spared or attempts to spare the limb have failed
  • Circulation problems
  • Deformities of digits and/or limbs
  • Any advanced cancers
  • Gangrene
  • Bone infection (osteomyelitis)
  • Traumatic amputation (Amputation occurs actually at scene of accident, the limb can be partially or wholly severed)
  • Amputation in utero (Amniotic band)
  • Sometimes professional athletes may choose to have a non-essential digit amputated to relieve chronic pain and impaired performance. Daniel Chick elected to have his left ring finger amputated as chronic pain and injury was limiting his performance.[2] Rugby union player Jone Tawake also had a finger removed.[3]

Method

Enlarge picture
Curved knives such as this one were used, in the past, for some kinds of amputations.
The first step is ligating the supplying artery and vein, to prevent hemorrhage. The muscles are transected, and finally the bone is sawed through with an oscillating saw. Skin and muscle flaps are then transposed over the stump, occasionally with the insertion of elements to attach a prosthesis.

Self-amputation

In some rare cases when a person has become trapped in a deserted place, with no means of communication or hope of rescue, the victim has amputated his own limb: Even rarer are cases where self-amputation is performed for criminal or political purposes: Body Integrity Identity Disorder is a psychological condition in which an individual feels compelled to remove one or more of their body parts, usually a limb. In some cases, that individual may take drastic measures to remove the offending appendages, either by causing irreparable damage to the limb so that medical intervention can not save the limb, or by causing the limb to be severed.

After-effects

A large proportion of amputees (50-80%) experience the phenomenon of phantom limbs;[4] they feel body parts that are no longer there. These limbs can itch, ache, and feel as if they are moving. Some scientists believe it has to do with a kind of neural map that the brain has of the body, which sends information to the rest of the brain about limbs regardless of their existence. Phantom sensations and phantom pain may also occur after the removal of body parts other than the limbs, e.g. after amputation of the breast, extraction of a tooth (phantom tooth pain) or removal of an eye (phantom eye syndrome). A similar phenomenon is unexplained sensation in a body part unrelated to the amputated limb. It has been hypothesized that the portion of the brain responsible for processing stimulation from amputated limbs, being deprived of input, actually expands into the surrounding brain, such that an individual who has had an arm amputated will experience unexplained pressure or movement on their face or head. The individual may also experience some trauma as well as emotional discomfort.

In many cases, the phantom limb aids in adaptation to a prosthesis, as it permits the person to experience proprioception of the prosthetic limb.

Another side-effect can be heterotopic ossification, especially when a bone injury is combined with a head injury. The brain signals the bone to grow instead of scar tissue to form, and nodules and other growth can interfere with prosthetics and sometimes require further operations. This type of injury has been especially common among soldiers wounded by improvised explosive devices in the Iraq war. [1]

References

1. ^ [2]
2. ^ RTE: Aussie Rules star has finger removed
3. ^ SportsAustralia.com: Tawake undergoes surgery to remove finger
4. ^ Heidi Schultz (January 2005). "Phantom Input". National Geographic Magazine |. 

See also

External links

  • Amputation from Cooper's 1835 "Practice of Surgery"
  • The amputee website from the UMC St Radboud Amputee Team
  • OandPCare.org provide information for amputees, their families, the media and the general public on prosthetic care for amputees.
  • amputee website Life goes on as an amputee. Help for amputees and their families.
  • Film featuring a main character who loses her leg.
Physical trauma refers to a physical injury. A trauma patient is someone who has suffered serious and life-threatening physical injury potentially resulting in secondary complications such as shock, respiratory failure and death.
..... Click the link for more information.
surgery (from the Greek χειρουργική meaning "hand work") is the medical specialty that treats diseases or injuries by operative manual and instrumental treatment.
..... Click the link for more information.
Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism.
If you are prevented from editing this page, and you wish to make a change, please discuss changes on the talk page, request unprotection, log in, or .
..... Click the link for more information.
This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling.
You can assist by [ editing it] now. A how-to guide is available, as is general .
This article has been tagged since September 2007.
..... Click the link for more information.
Congenital amputation is a congenital disorder caused by fibrous bands of the amnion that constrict foetal limbs to such an extent, that they fall off due to missing blood supply. The child is born without one or more limbs or without parts of limbs (amelia).
..... Click the link for more information.
A congenital disorder is any medical condition that is present at birth. However, a congenital disorder can be recognized before birth (prenatally), at birth, years later, or never. The term congenital does not imply or exclude a genetic cause.
..... Click the link for more information.
fetus (or foetus, or fœtus) is a developing mammal or other viviparous vertebrate, after the embryonic stage and before birth. The plural is fetuses (foetuses, fœtuses) or, very rarely, foeti.
..... Click the link for more information.
Punishment is the practice of imposing something unpleasant or aversive on a person or animal in response to an unwanted, disobedient or morally wrong behavior.

Word history


..... Click the link for more information.
Lacertilia*
Günther, 1867

Families

Many, see text.

Lizards are reptiles of the order Squamata, normally possessing four legs, external ear openings and movable eyelids.
..... Click the link for more information.
organ transplant is the moving of a whole or partial organ from one body to another (or from a donor site on the patient's own body), for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or failing organ with a working one from the donor site.
..... Click the link for more information.
prosthesis is an artificial extension that replaces a missing body part. It is part of the field of biomechatronics, the science of fusing mechanical devices with human muscle, skeleton, and nervous systems to assist or enhance motor control lost by trauma, disease, or defect.
..... Click the link for more information.
This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling.
You can assist by [ editing it] now. A how-to guide is available, as is general .
This article has been tagged since September 2007.
..... Click the link for more information.
Bleeding, technically known as hemorrhage (American English) or haemorrhage (British English) is the loss of blood from the circulatory system.[1] Bleeding can occur internally, where blood leaks from blood vessels inside the body or externally, either
..... Click the link for more information.
Anesthesia or anaesthesia (see spelling differences; from Greek αν- an- “without” + αἲσθησις aisthesis
..... Click the link for more information.
A leg is the part of an animal's body that supports the rest of the animal above the ground between the ankle and the hip and is used for locomotion. The end of the leg furthest from the animal's body is often either modified or attached to another structure that is
..... Click the link for more information.
A hemipelvectomy is a high level pelvic amputation. Along with hip-disarticulations, hemipelvectomies are the rarest of lower extremity amputations. In some cases, an internal hemipelvectomy can be performed, which is a limb-sparing procedure.
..... Click the link for more information.
An arm is an upper limb of the body.

Arm (or arms) may also refer to:
  • Armaments, weapons; as in Small arms, Right to bear arms
  • Eta Capricorni, a star, traditional name "Arm"

..... Click the link for more information.
The Krukenberg procedure, first described in 1917 by surgeon Hermann von Krukenberg, is a surgical technique that converts a forearm stump into a pincer. The procedure involves separating the ulna and radius for below-elbow amputations to provide a pincerlike grasp that is motored
..... Click the link for more information.
Teeth (singular, tooth) are structures found in the jaws (or mouths) of many vertebrates that are used to tear, scrape, and chew food. Some animals, particularly carnivores, also use teeth for hunting or defense. The roots of teeth are covered by gums.
..... Click the link for more information.
Neolithic[1] or "New" Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology that is traditionally the last part of the Stone Age. The Neolithic era follows the terminal Holocene Epipalaeolithic
..... Click the link for more information.
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Northern Africa includes the following seven territories:

  • Algeria
  • Egypt
  • Libya

..... Click the link for more information.
In medicine (surgery), hemicorporectomy (also named translumbar amputation and "halfectomy") is a radical surgery in which the body caudal to the waist is amputated, transecting the lumbar spine.
..... Click the link for more information.
Genital modification and genital mutilation both can refer to permanent or temporary changes to the human genitals.

When genital alterations are used for punishment, typically for rape, adultery or other socially forbidden sexual practices, such modifications have
..... Click the link for more information.
Circumcision is the surgical or other cutting of some or all of the foreskin (prepuce) from the penis.[1] The word "circumcision" comes from Latin circum (meaning "around") and caedere (meaning "to cut").
..... Click the link for more information.
Daniel Chick
Personal Info
Birth January 10 1976 (1976--) (age 31),
Recruited from East Fremantle Football Club (WAFL)
Height/Weight 185cm / 88kg
..... Click the link for more information.
The ring finger is the fourth digit of the human hand, and the second most ulnar finger, located between the middle finger and the little finger. It is also called digitus medicinalis, the fourth finger, digitus annularis, digitus quartus
..... Click the link for more information.
Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled.
If you are prevented from editing this page, and you wish to make a change, please discuss changes on the talk page, request unprotection, log in, or .
..... Click the link for more information.
Jone Tawake (born 17 April 1982) , (height 1.87m, weight 118kg), is a Fijian born rugby union player. He currently competes in the Super 14 competition and plays for the ACT Brumbies as a flanker and no.8. He formerly played for the New South Wales Waratahs.
..... Click the link for more information.
Ligation may refer to:
  • The act of making a ligature (tie). In medicine, a ligature is a device, similar to a tourniquet, usually of thread or string, tied around a limb, blood vessel or similar to restrict blood flow.

..... Click the link for more information.
Arteries are muscular blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart.[1] All arteries, with the exception of the pulmonary and umbilical arteries, carry oxygenated blood.

The circulatory system is extremely important for sustaining life.
..... Click the link for more information.


This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.
Herod_Archelaus


page counter