What is an amputation? Why is it done?
National library of Medicine calls it
“A surgical removal of the external part of a body, most often a limb or part of it, as a form of treatment. The aim of an amputation is to save a patient’s life and reduce debility. It may be required when a limb is severely crushed or dead due to impaired blood circulation in diabetic disease, infection (Gangrene), burns, frostbite, prevent bone cancer or disease of the blood vessels.”
Now let’s consider the process before an amputation occurs and after it occurs.
Due to disease or an accident an Individual is rushed to the hospital by either friends or family.
In the hospital all possible means to save the individuals live is being done by the doctors and staff, it is noticed that that over time that a particular limb is refusing to respond to treatment and is slowly getting infected. The doctor recommends that amputation should be done to save the life of the individual. At this point family and friends decide to seek another opinion.
The individual is moved to another hospital, most times a teaching hospital or specialist hospital. When the same decision is made to amputate. Another decision comes in play to move the individual to a traditional bone setter.
Sometime they help depending on the type of problem, while other times they make things worse. The NML says that
“The most frequent indications for amputation were trauma (34%); complication of traditional bone setting (TBS) (23%); malignant tumours (14.5%); diabetic gangrene (12.3%); infections (5.1%); peripheral artery disease (2.1%); and burns (2.1%). In the southern regions, trauma is the most common indication while complications of traditional bone setting are the most common in the northern and eastern regions.”
When they make things worst, the individual is revert back to the teaching hospital for the amputation. Here the decision is left in the hands of the orthopaedic surgeon.
In most developed countries, the orthopaedic surgeon works with a Prosthetic technician, psychiatrist and physiotherapist. This is done to decide where best to make the amputation, to help the patient adapt and be able to use a prosthetics.
In Nigeria the decision is usually that of the orthopaedic surgeon. Some times this usually leads to the patient going back for another amputation or series of amputations because some surgeons do not take into account that the patients will be needing a prosthetics and some patient are total unaware of the possibilities of prosthetics currently available to them.
After the amputation the individual, doctors, family and friends begin the procedure helping him heal from the trauma and injury while discussions are going on between the family and the doctors on how best to go forward. Here the doctors recommend a various solutions which could range from costly overseas solutions ranging in the millions of naira, which will involve travel and treatment costs aside from the actual cost of the prosthetics.
In our subsequent posts we will look at how to overcome a lot of this burden without leaving Nigeria. Places that offer the best treatment, possibilities of prosthetics, finding the right choice for a new amputee.
National library of Medicine calls it
“A surgical removal of the external part of a body, most often a limb or part of it, as a form of treatment. The aim of an amputation is to save a patient’s life and reduce debility. It may be required when a limb is severely crushed or dead due to impaired blood circulation in diabetic disease, infection (Gangrene), burns, frostbite, prevent bone cancer or disease of the blood vessels.”
Now let’s consider the process before an amputation occurs and after it occurs.
Due to disease or an accident an Individual is rushed to the hospital by either friends or family.
In the hospital all possible means to save the individuals live is being done by the doctors and staff, it is noticed that that over time that a particular limb is refusing to respond to treatment and is slowly getting infected. The doctor recommends that amputation should be done to save the life of the individual. At this point family and friends decide to seek another opinion.
The individual is moved to another hospital, most times a teaching hospital or specialist hospital. When the same decision is made to amputate. Another decision comes in play to move the individual to a traditional bone setter.
Sometime they help depending on the type of problem, while other times they make things worse. The NML says that
“The most frequent indications for amputation were trauma (34%); complication of traditional bone setting (TBS) (23%); malignant tumours (14.5%); diabetic gangrene (12.3%); infections (5.1%); peripheral artery disease (2.1%); and burns (2.1%). In the southern regions, trauma is the most common indication while complications of traditional bone setting are the most common in the northern and eastern regions.”
When they make things worst, the individual is revert back to the teaching hospital for the amputation. Here the decision is left in the hands of the orthopaedic surgeon.
In most developed countries, the orthopaedic surgeon works with a Prosthetic technician, psychiatrist and physiotherapist. This is done to decide where best to make the amputation, to help the patient adapt and be able to use a prosthetics.
In Nigeria the decision is usually that of the orthopaedic surgeon. Some times this usually leads to the patient going back for another amputation or series of amputations because some surgeons do not take into account that the patients will be needing a prosthetics and some patient are total unaware of the possibilities of prosthetics currently available to them.
After the amputation the individual, doctors, family and friends begin the procedure helping him heal from the trauma and injury while discussions are going on between the family and the doctors on how best to go forward. Here the doctors recommend a various solutions which could range from costly overseas solutions ranging in the millions of naira, which will involve travel and treatment costs aside from the actual cost of the prosthetics.
In our subsequent posts we will look at how to overcome a lot of this burden without leaving Nigeria. Places that offer the best treatment, possibilities of prosthetics, finding the right choice for a new amputee.
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