Two problems face the surgeon when he decides to amputate. He must try to obtain primary healing of the skin flaps and he must give the patient a strong, mobile and useful stump. These two aims are in part in opposition to each other. The higher up the limb the surgeon amputates the better the chance of primary healing, but with this goes a higher mortality rate and a lower chance of rehabilitation for the patient. Amputations lower down the limb give a stronger stump, and a greater chance of a return to walking but the healing rate is slower. Within this study, fifteen below-knee amputations in fifteen patients were studied.  Furthermore, the advantages in relation to long posterior-flap below-knee amputation with myoplasty are described.peer-reviewe

Cutajar, L.

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100 LONG POSTERIOR-FLAP MYOPLASTIC BELOW-KNEE AMPUTATION (BUR'GESS OPERATION) IN PERIPHERAL VASCULAR DISEASE L. OUTAJAR M.D., F.R.C.S. Dept. of Swrgel'Y, St. Luke's Hospital Om:: of th.:: mos,tLmfor~ll.nace calam....-ties mal: ~"'1l 1J~'("'11 all Inu. v "uual 1S tn~ loss of a l1ffiO. Wnen ampu~at.on is necess~tated because of advanced peri-pheral vascular disease the outlook is even more gflm because the llkehood of the patient requirIng a subsequent maJor amputation of the oppos"te lower 11mb increases with time. Mazet (1963) has esLmated the incidence of this as 10% after one year and as much as 33% of those surv:ving five years. Amputat.on of a lower I mb should therefore be a plLned procedure taking into account not only the surgeon's prc-ference for a part'cular operation but also the poss;ble effects wh'ch this procedure is likely have on the patient's future life Such :actors as the patient's age, oc-cupation, mental stability and other con-comitant disease should all be considered. Two problems face the surgeon when he decides to amputate. He must try to obtain primary healing of the skn flaps and he must gIve the patient a strong, mobile and useful stump. These two aims are in part in opposition to each other. The higher up the limb the surgeon am-putates the better the chance of primary neaLng, but wlith th·s Igoes, a hlgher mortality rate and a lower chance of re-habilitation for the patient. Amputations lower down the limb give a stronger s~ump ,and a greater challce of a return to walking but the healing rate is slower Tab18 1. With the orthodox below-knee ampu-tation it :s usually the anterior flap wh ch n2croses. InjecLon studies have shown that in obliterative vascular disease this "rea of skin is often ischaemic. In 1967 Burgess described a tech-nique of below-knee amputation using a lo._g posterior flap completely eliminating the anterior flap. Promising results with this operation were reported in 1969 at the Combined Br:tish and American Sur-gical Research Society Meeting held at the Royal College of Surgeons in London. Having become acquainted with this technique at this meeting I have been us-ing it as my standard procedure, where poss'ble, for below-knee amputation. The Operation. (Fig. 1) 1. Position of patient is supine with a sandbag under the thigh. TABLE 1 Amputations Mortality Primary heaJling Delayed healing Overall ihealing Second amputation Walked again (Unilateral amp) Abone·knee BeLow-knee Gritti-Stokes (Warren et al 1968) (Warren et al 1968) (P. Martin et al 1967) 28% 71 11 82 46 10% 49 18 67 13 76 6% 79 12 91 7 55 -p s" t t SI/. Figure 1. 2. Skin Flaps: anteriorly a trans-verse incision is made 5" below the knee joint extending a: ntle over one third around the circumference of the leg. The tissues are divided to the periosteum. From ea::h end of th:s incis:on another cut is made vertically downwards towards the foot for a further 6". The irdsion is then continued around the re-mainder of the circumference to form the long posterior flap. 3. The anterior tibial muscles and per:osteum are divided in the line of the anterior incision and stripped proximally 1 inch from the bone. The tibia is then divided and bevelled. 4. A bone hook is inserted in the medullary cavity of the distal fragment of the tibia which is steadied wh:le the fibula is divided i" abo,ve the line o~ tibial 101 section. 5. By traction on the bone-hook the posterior tibial and proximal vessels are exposed, d~vided and ligated with catgut. The soleus and gastrocnem'us muscles are d'ssected from the tibia and fibula of the specimen, which is freed by dividing these muscles at the line of the distal skin incis:on. The bulk of these muscles is re-duced by slicing the muscle mass oblique-ly from the site of bone division to the end of the posterIor flap. This is best per-formed with a Syme's amputation knife. 6. All edges of the tibia are smoothen-cd. The muscles of the posterior :lap aTe ligated with tissue forceps and brought up to be sutured to the deep fascia and and anterior tibal muscles and reflected pJriosteum anteriorly, with slight tension. 7. The posterior sk!n flaps is similarly tr'mmed and approximated to the anterior incision without tension. At the extre-m~ties of the flap some dog-ear formation usually occurs. The skin is closed w~th in-t~rrupted fine nylon sutures, the drain protruding from each corner of the wound. 8. The wound is dressed w:th gauze and the limb is then wrapped in a thin layer of orthopaedic cotton wool over which an elastic crepe bandage is firmly applied. The drain is removed on the 4th post-operative day and the sutures on the 21st day. Present Study Fifteen below-knee amputations in flfteen patients. were studied. The age 0,; the patients was 43 years to 80 years (mean 65 years). The indications for operation are shown in Table 2. Five patients had previous partial amputations of the foot in the same limb which was subsequently amputated. Another five had previous lumbar sympathectomy on the same side. TABLE 2 Long Posterior-Flap Myoplas,tic B.K.A. 15 amputatioa1s: 15 patients Indications No. of amputations Diahetec gangrea1e 10 Arterioscel'osis 4 Buerger's disease 1 102 F'gure 2. The results of this study are shown in Table 3. Pr;mary healing occured in 66% of patients whJe complete healing occurred in 86.6% which compares favourably with the results obta'ned by Warren & Kihn (1968) with the conven-t'anal below-knee amputation. TABLE 3 Long Posterior-Flap Myoplastic (B.K.A. (15 legs) Mortality 1 Primary healing 9 Delay healing 3 Re~amputation 2 Popliteal pulsation was absent in the two paEents who had to have re-amputa-tion at a higher level but was also absent in another six limbs which healed. The f rst thr~e ,amputations in thiis series were performed in a London Teach-ing Hospital where the physiotherapy and Limb Fitti g Departments were well-equipped and highly efficient. The other operations were carried out at St. Luke's Hosp'tal were these facilities were not adequately developed during the perriod of this study. It is therefore im-possible to compare this series with other published series as regards post-operative course in terms of limb-fitting and walk-'ng. Ten Cl: the patients in this series have walked. Condusions. The encouraging results obtained in this series agree with those of Hunter-Craig et al. (1970). The long posrcerior-flap Ibelow-knee amputation with myoplasty has several advantages: 1. The troublesome anterior flap is is eliminated. 2. The myoplasty of the gastrocne-mius and soleus muscles encour-ages venous return and augments the force of knee flexion. 3. The shape of the stump is ideally suited to modern total-contact prosthesis and the patellar ten-don-bearing prosthesis (fig. 2) altows continuation of an active life with an excellent cosmetic appearance. 4. Finally the good results obtained !in some 'patLents with advanced peripheral vascular disease has been most encouraging. 103 References MAZET, R., Office of Vocational Rehabilitation Project, 431, 1963. BURGESS, E.M., et a~ Clin. Orthop. 37, 17, WARREN, R. & KEHN, R.B. (1968) Surgery, 63, 1967. 107. HUNTER-CRAIG, 1., et a~, B.J.S. 57, 62, 1970. NUTRITION AND DIET IN ATHLETES J. MUSCAT M.D., B.Sc., F.F.I.M.S. Abstract The value of different articles of food as sources of energy to athletes is d'scuss-ed, Carbohydrates are the chief and best ~ources to he preferred to fats and pro teins. The diet of an athlete must be well-balanced to' contain essenfial elements-In sufficient proportional quanfties to supply required ca'lorres. Regular weighing of athletes is impor-tant to aseertain that the input is equal to the output. Nutrition and dieting are one ol? the cardinal mianstones on which depends maximum pe1120rmance. Proper nutrition of an athlete is as important as the illltense train'ng he undergoes. A sound dietary regime is absolutely essential to guarantee maxtmum physical fitness and consequently perforIl!ance. Part I. Nutrition Man must eat to live; food is essent' al for survival and maintenance of good heaLth. After ingest' on, the food in the di-gestive system is broken down by various chemical processes in:to simple elements identical to those which constitute the human cell. A:bsorbed by the intestinal villi, the end-products of the prote'ns, carbohy-drates and fats, reach the cell-protoplasm through the blood. Som~ are "Anabolics": contributing towards the growth of the organi.sm by supplying the elements (proteins) ess3ntial for the constructlon and- build up of new tissues, and for mai.ntenane.e of health by making good the daily wear and tear or: the body. Others (the Fats and Carbohydrates) supply the energy absolutely ind'spensable for the daily and continuous a:ctivities of the organism. The vitamins, the mineral salts (such as sodlum, potassium, ca:1eilUm, phosphorus, iron, magnesium, sulphur,) and water help to regulate the metaboIic processes w'thin the human organism. Some of the surplus proteins and carbohy-drates are stored in the liver. The excC'ss of the carbohydratos wh'ch is not burnt out, is converted into fatty cells and dp po'5ited .as stores of adipose tissue under the skin and around the organs. The cycle of rutrition ends bv the elim'nation from the body of those ingested substances which the organism does not metabolise and of those which may turn out to be harmful to it. The human body may very well be compared to a man-built eng'ne; but, un-like the latter; it is definitely much more expensive to run; it is in continuous activity; ilt requires fuel uninterruptedly - of course in varying amounts depending on various fadors as we shall see later, -throughout its span of life: :rom the very first instant a baby is born up to the very last breath on the death-bed. The Basal 

Long posterior-flap myoplastic below-knee amputation (Burgess operation) in peripheral vascular disease

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Long posterior-flap myoplastic below-knee amputation (Burgess operation) in peripheral vascular disease

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