On Thu, 6 Nov 1997, Tom Current and Tina Kilbey wrote:
> The gentleman’s surgen has recommended a transfemoral amputation, I
> recommended he do a knee disarticulation instead. The surgen is
> unfamiliar with prosthetic intervention at this level and has asked for
> any information I have related to knee disarticulation prosthetic
> fitting.
Good for you for enlightening the surgeon!
> Does anyone know of any articles related to the knee disarticulation?
Tom, you’ve probably already checked it, but the AAOS Atlas is probably
the best general yet succinct article, is current, and has the advantage
of being published by the AAOS which will prob. carry more weight with the
surgeon than an article from one of the O&P journals. I think there’s
both an article on the advantages of the amp level surgically/functionally
and a separate(?) article on fitting problems.
I’ve got other articles – if you want references, I’ll dig ’em out.
The thing to point out would be that since this is an older gent, he’ll
prob. be sitting a lot and he might not like the px leg sticking out
farther than the sound side. However I think that KD is better for
preventing hip flexion contractures in someone who sits a lot. If he’s in
pretty good health, well, our best “AK” walkers when I was in school were
always these 70 some year old wiry old guys with knee disartics – it’s a
real forgiving fit when you can bear some weight on the end.
Cathy
(718) 824-1355
