Amputation is a surgery to remove a limb or part of a limb. Amputation can also happen as an accident, which is called a traumatic amputation.
Who is a candidate for the procedure?
Amputation is most often used for one of four conditions: · gangrene, which is a severe limb infection with death of tissue · lack of enough blood flow through the arteries that supply blood and oxygen to the affected limb · severe trauma or injury of a limb · cancer or a tumor involving a limb
Amputation has serious emotional and physical effects. For this reason, limb removal is usually advised only when other options are not possible or have little chance of success.
How is the procedure performed?
There are many different ways to perform an amputation. A single finger or toe may be removed, or an entire arm or leg. The surgeon will usually try to remove as little of the limb as needed to treat the condition.
An amputation is done in an operating room. In many cases, general anesthesia is used to put the person completely to sleep with medications. Regional anesthesia may also be used. In this case, a person is awake but has no sensation of pain.
The area of skin where the incision will be made is cleaned. The surgeon then cuts into and through the skin. In most cases, the surgeon will remove the limb or part of the limb at a point where there is a joint. For instance, the entire leg below the knee may be removed. The knee area is chosen partly because this is where the shinbone, or tibia, meets the thighbone, or femur. Removing the part or whole limb at a joint prevents the need to break one of the bones.
After the part or whole limb is removed, the skin is closed with sutures. A bandage or dressing is then placed over it.
What happens right after the procedure?
The person is taken to a surgery recovery room while he or she wakes up from the surgery. Pain medication is given if needed. Antibiotics and other medications may also be given.
When the person is awake and his or her vital signs are within normal limits, he or she is usually taken back to a bed in the surgical inpatient unit. In most cases, the person will need to stay in the hospital for at least 1 or 2 more days.
parts such as the arms, the nose, and the genitalia are also cut off. The entire piece is also covered
Strange as that this may sound, when a Wannabee person lose a limb they are actually gaining so much more of who they felt they are. As one Amputee said to his doctor “you have made me the happiest of all men by taking away from me a limb which put an invincible obstacle to my
Prior to the discovery, surgeons would tie, strap, or hold down their patients to keep them from running off during surgery. Many times, the surgeon would give alcohol or narcotics to patients in order for the patient to better face the indescribable pain.
Anesthesia was not used in surgeries until 1846, so prior to that the patient was completely conscious when they operated on him or her, unless the patient passed out from pain. Patients were unwilling to be cut into while they were awake: “Dragged unwillingly or carried from the ward to the operating theatre by a couple of hospital attendants (in Edinburgh a large wicker basker was used for this purpose) the patient was laid on the operating table and if necessary strapped down” (Youngson 27). The tools used in surgeries can be seen here. Anesthetics Anesthetics were not used in surgery until October 16, 1846, at Massachusetts General Hospital (Youngson 51). Anesthesia is an inhaled gas known as ether.
Rehabilitation after amputation has changed significantly. It now includes a more in depth process and aftercare to ensure and a full recovery is achieved and reduces the potential for infections and complications. Patients are encouraged to take part in sport to aid them in their recovery and, with the use of specialized prosthetics, are readily available. It has also been said to help reduce Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which, according to a study by Abeyasinghe 2012, suggested that 42.5% of lower limb amputees suffered with PTSD (Abeyasinghe, de Zoysa, Bandara, Bartholameuz, & Bandara,
According to the U.S census, about 80% of people with phantom limb experience extreme excruciating pain coming from the stump. In fact, Ramachandran and Hirstein authors of “The Perception of Phantom Limbs” (1998) report that the pain haunts victims and remains painful even 25 years after loss of limb. Hence, suffering is chronic especially after an immediate amputation of a limb, where patients describe the pain as itching, burning, stabbing, or tingling. In most cases, pain interferes with work and social life and becomes a heavier burden than the paralysis itself. There’s nothing really phantom or imagined about this suffering; however, contrary to what the amputees feel, the pain is generated by the brain not originated in a limb that doesn’t exist. To be more specific, the intensity of the pain could be found in the neurons of the brain. With this in mind, one must be sure that phantom limb syndrome is certainly not a modern discovered occurrence; however, the exact cause of this sensation has puzzled scientists for dec...
Although nothing can ever fully replace any part of our bodies, most people who have suffered the loss of a body part or who were born missing something that everyone else has and needs—like a foot or a hand—would agree that something is usually better than nothing. People have used all sorts of artificial devices probably from the beginnings of human history to help them compensate for the loss of a limb. Thus in very ancient times, the first and simplest prosthesis may have been a forked tree limb that was used as a crutch to help someone walk whose leg may have been badly damaged or lost in an accident or to a disease.
Now let’s break down what General Anesthesia actually is. General Anesthesia makes you both unconscious and unable to feel pain during medical procedures. A study done by a team from Harvard Medical School, Weill Cornell Medical college, and the Massachusetts Ins...
Furthermore, the amount of time a patient spent in the recovery room depends on the patient's advancement and the type of anesthesia they may receive. During the first hour after surgery, patients will need to lie flat on their backs to reduce the risk of headache induced ant anesthesia, which can be painful. Before a patient is discharged, full sensation must be regained in the lower part of the body. After the two outpatients is recover, from the anesthesia they were sent home and were required to do follow-ups at the clinics close to them; however, the inpatients were returned to their respective
Overall, I do believe that elective amputation can be justified but there are always going to be those people that take it too far. Bionic technology is going to continue to expand and develop. New advancements will create more concerns and more controversial issues.
Imagine how much harder everyday life would be with a metal stub attached to where your limb was supposed to be. This is the everyday life of amputees. Throughout the United States there are nearly 2 million people with amputations. Prosthetics are a type of design that has allowed limbless people to function, by attaching a metal device to the needed socket. The device can help the person move and regain partial function in the missing limb. Research has gone into medicine to improve these procedures so people can regain function and stability. Unfortunately there is no special cure or magic that can automatically regrow ones personal limb. But, medicine and research is getting there. Fortunately there are an array of options science is experimenting with regarding limb replacement. Although while analyzing the different positions it’s a complicated decision to pick the “best” option. With improvements to prosthetics and new regenerative medicine, our world is making big decisions regarding these new technological advances. But, could there ever be a time where humans could regrow a limb? Or should we stick to the alternative we know is safe and works.. Prosthetics? Ultimately our world is forced to focus on the main question, what is the best possible way to help those who have lost a limb?
Anesthesia is used in almost every single surgery. It is a numbing medicine that numbs the nerves and makes the body go unconscious. You can’t feel anything or move while under the sedative and are often delusional after being taken off of the anesthetic. Believe it or not, about roughly two hundred years ago doctors didn’t use anesthesia during surgery. It was rarely ever practiced. Patients could feel everything and were physically held down while being operated on. 2It wasn’t until 1846 that a dentist first used an anesthetic on a patient going into surgery and the practice spread and became popular (Anesthesia). To this day, advancements are still being made in anesthesiology. 7The more scientists learn about molecules and anesthetic side effects, the better ability to design agents that are more targeted, more effective and safer, with fewer side effects for the patients (Anesthesia). Technological advancements will make it easier to read vital life signs in a person and help better decide the specific dosages a person needs.
Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to have one or more of your limbs amputated? A prosthetic "replaces a body part lost as the result of injury, disease, or a birth defect" (Childress). Prosthetics have been used for more than 2,000 years. The most developments happened during World War II. Wars are the places where most casualties such as limb loss occur the most(Prosthetics). The main causes of limb loss of the people that are currently living is 45% from trauma, 53% from vascular disease, and less and 2% from cancer (view graph on next page). Vascular disease includes diabetes and peripheral arterial disease (Limb Loss Statistics). There are many steps taken to prepare a patient for a prosthetic limb. The first step is amputation.
The previous insert from William Lee Adams’ article, Amputee Wannabes, describes a 33-year-old man’s wish for amputation of his foot. There was nothing physically or medically wrong with this limb; John only stated that he did not feel comfortable with his own body and felt as though his foot was not a part of him. John’s leg was amputated above the knee, and he went on to describe that the operation resolved his anxiety and allowed him to be at ease in his own body (Adams, 2007).
A procedure to remove part of the foreskin (circumcision). This may be done in severe