Amputation after extremity injury.

Extremity injury is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the trauma patient. The decision to amputate is a difficult one to make in a patient population still in the productive years of life. At the University of Louisville Hospital from 1976 to 1984, 37 patients with traumatic extremity injury required amputation. Ninety percent of these injuries were to the lower extremities. A decision for amputation was based on the absence of neurovascular function, the presence of fracture of the involved extremity, the presence of a large soft tissue defect, and the presence of severe contamination. Prompt amputation of such severely damaged limbs may be preferable to attempts at salvage. Early amputation offers the opportunity for prosthetic replacement and good long-term functional recovery.