Dear Collegues,
As a prosthetist working in a clinic in the South of England I receive
referals from a variety of surgical centres. There is one particular
centre which has been sending us a fair number of primary amputees where
the papers accompanying them claim they have had a knee disarticulation but
examination reveals that they have had a Gritti-Stokes procedure. There
seems to be one surgeon at this hospital who believes very firmly that this
is a worthwhile procedure. As yet, I have been unable to find any
prosthetist who sees any advantages with this over a simple disarticulation
or a trans femoral amputation. It seems to me that we have all the
disadvantages of the disarticulation (principally lack of cosmesis) and
none of the advantages (self suspension, proper end bearing etc.)
I would be glad to hear the opinions of the subscribers to this list both
medics and prosthetists.
Thanking you in anticipation,
Grant Crosthwaite
In a world without walls or fences, what use do we have for windows or
gates?
