title: Evolving techniques in foot and ankle amputation.
abstract: Multiple clinical pathways lead to lower extremity amputation, including trauma, dysvascular disease, congenital defects, and malignancy. However, the principles of successful amputation-careful preoperative planning, coordination of a multidisciplinary team, and good surgical technique-remain the same. Organized rehabilitation and properly selected prostheses are integral components of amputee care. In the civilian setting, amputation is usually performed as a planned therapy for an unsalvageable extremity, not as an emergency procedure. The partial loss of a lower limb often represents a major change in a person's life, but patients should be encouraged to approach amputation as the beginning of a new phase of life and not as the culmination of previous treatment failures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The Ohio State University Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Vincent Y
authors.initials: VY
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: Gregory C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Berlet
mesh_terms: D000671:Amputation, Surgical / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000639:trends*; D000842:Ankle / Q000601:surgery*; D016512:Ankle Injuries / Q000601:surgery; D001186:Artificial Limbs; D017719:Diabetic Foot / Q000601:surgery; D005528:Foot / Q000601:surgery*; D018409:Foot Injuries / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D012307:Risk Factors