What is limb salvage?

Limb salvage is a procedure that involves saving a lower extremity from amputation. In podiatry, limb amputations occur often as a result of diabetes, neuropathy, peripheral vascular disease, cancerous tumor in the bone or muscle, a serious non-healing infection, or a severe crushing injury. 

How to salvage a limb?

The procedure to salvage a limb involves removing the diseased tissue and a small portion of the surrounding healthy tissue, as well as the removal of any affected bone, if necessary. If the bone is removed, it is then replaced with prostheses synthetic metal rods or plates, or grafts from either the patient’s body or a donor. Limb salvage is the preferred choice of a procedure over an amputation, as the procedure preserves both the patient’s appearance and allows for the best possible degree of function and mobility in the affected limb.

What is the proper aftercare?

As limb salvage requires extensive surgical incisions, patients who have these operations need extensive rehabilitation. The amount of bone removed as well as the type of reconstruction performed determine how soon and how much the patient can exercise. Most patients begin muscle strengthening, continuous passive motion (CPM), and range of motion (ROM) exercises as soon as the day after the operation and continue them for the next twelve months. Physical therapy regimes help the patient function independently and accept changes in body image. The assistance of a patient requiring a brace, walker, cane or other medical device will be determined by the doctor on a case by case status.

What are the results of limb salvage?

Salvaged limbs will function better than artificial ones. However, it takes at least a year for patients to learn to walk again following a lower-extremity limb salvage. Successful surgery reduces the frequency and severity of patient falls and fractures that often result from disease-related changes in the bone.