A research team in Switzerland conducted a retrospective study to determine individuals’ five-year survival rate after a lower-limb amputation due to vascular insufficiency and to identify the predictors of survival. They found that the survival rate was associated with prosthetic fitting.
The researchers looked at two types of lower-limb amputations: Gritti-Stokes, amputation at the knee through condyles of the femur, and mid-thigh amputation. The study included all individuals, 126 in total, with vascular insufficiency who underwent amputations from September 2007 to December 2015 in the Lausanne University Hospital. The indication for amputation was limb necrosis (86 percent) infection (10 percent), and residual limb complications (4 percent). The researchers analyzed medical records to determine factors and comorbidities.
The patients, including 83 men, had a mean age of 70 years. Survival rate was 68 percent at one year, 48 percent at three years, and 37 percent at five years.
Survival was associated with prosthetic fitting and length of hospital stay. In a secondary multivariable analysis, the Gritti-Stokes amputation was the only factor positively associated with prosthetic fitting.
The open-access study, “Prosthetic fitting associated with better survival at 5 years after above-knee amputation due to vascular insufficiency,” was published in the Annals of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine.
