The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Vol 70, Issue 10 1514-1519, Copyright © 1988 by Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc
Results of amputation for gangrene in diabetic and non-diabetic patients. Selection of amputation level using photoelectric measurements of skin-perfusion pressure
KS Christensen, N Falstie-Jensen, ES Christensen and J Brochner-Mortensen
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Aalborg Hospital, Denmark.
Evaluation was done of 235 patients who had had 273 primary amputations for
gangrene. Measurements of local skin-perfusion pressure or systolic blood
pressure were made in 222 limbs (188 patients). For the other fifty-one
limbs, for which no measurements of pressure were available, the surgeon
elected to perform an above-the-knee amputation in nine of seventeen
diabetic limbs and a below-the-knee amputation in eight. An above-the-knee
amputation was selected by the surgeon for thirty-two of thirty-four
non-diabetic limbs and a below-the-knee amputation, for two for which no
measurements of pressure were available. Local skin-perfusion pressure was
measured distal to the knee before amputation, using a standardized
photoelectric technique in 203 limbs and systolic blood-pressure
measurements in nineteen. Skin-perfusion pressure was also measured above
the knee in seventy-six of the 222 limbs in which a pressure was determined
below the knee. These measurements were made available to the surgeon for
use as an adjuvant guide to clinical assessment in selecting the
appropriate level of amputation. Seventy-four patients (ninety-two
amputations) had diabetes and 114 patients (130 amputations) did not. The
limbs of the diabetic patients had a significantly higher skin-perfusion
pressure at the below-the-knee level (p less than 0.001) than did those of
the non-diabetic patients. The ratios of below-the-knee to above-the-knee
amputations for the diabetic and non-diabetic patients were 3.8 to one and
1.3 to one (p less than 0.001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)