Management of infection of major amputation stumps after failed femorodistal grafts.

A retrospective review was performed of 174 patients who underwent 199 lower-extremity amputations for unreconstructable vascular insufficiency from 1976 to 1983 at the Northwestern University Medical Center. This study was initiated to identify the cause of amputation wound healing complications and secondary ascending prosthetic graft infection, as well as to propose a plan of management for the failed prosthetic grafts at the time of major limb amputation. Ninety-eight amputations were performed primarily, 12 were performed secondary to graft infection, and 89 were performed in patients who had previously undergone infrainguinal arterial bypass procedures. At the time of amputation, graft management consisted of high transection and suture ligation, allowing the graft to retract into the substance of the stump and away from the skin suture line and weight-bearing area of the limb. Delayed stump healing was noted to occur more commonly in the group who had undergone previous bypasses as opposed to those who had undergone primary amputation (34.8% versus 14.3%). Fourteen graft infections developed in 89 patients after amputation (15.7%), which is significantly higher than the overall 1.4% incidence of lower-extremity bypass infections that occurred during the same interval in patients with intact extremities. In addition, it was found that when infected grafts in amputated limbs were completely removed, stump healing without recurrent wound and graft sepsis was better than when treated locally or with partial graft removal. We therefore recommend removal of a thrombosed graft with an infected wound or an infected graft at the time of major limb amputation to decrease the incidence of wound complications and graft infection.