A study to identify risk factors for reamputation in patients within six months following an initial lower-limb amputation procedure found that early intervention for patients with risk factors of dialysis, smoking, and hypertension could reduce the potential for reamputation.
This single-center retrospective cohort study was performed at the Hospital Regional Hans Dieter Schmidt in Brazil and included patients who were at least 18 years old and had undergone a lower-limb amputation between 2013 and 2022. Patients who died while hospitalized or who were lost to follow-up after hospital discharge were excluded. Patient age, sex, number of amputations, revision time, comorbidities, as well as potential risk factors were extracted from the physical therapy service database and electronic medical records of the hospital.
A total of 652 patients were included, of which 35.2 percent (230) had another amputation within six months of the first operation. The researchers found that dialysis, smoking, and hypertension were predictive factors for reamputation.
