title: Lower Extremity Assessment Project (LEAP)--the best available evidence on limb-threatening lower extremity trauma.
abstract: Lower Extremity Assessment Project (LEAP) study set out to answer many of the questions surrounding the decision of whether to amputate or salvage limbs in the setting of severe lower extremity trauma. A National Institutes of Health-funded, multicenter, prospective observational study, the LEAP study represented a milestone in orthopedic trauma research, and perhaps in orthopedics. The LEAP study attempted to define the characteristics of the individuals who sustained these injuries, the characteristics of their environment, the variables of the physical aspects of their injury, the secondary medical and mental conditions that arose from their injury and treatment, their ultimate functional status, and their general health. In the realm of evidence-based medicine, the LEAP studies provided a wealth of data, but still failed to completely determine treatment at the onset of severe lower extremity trauma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, University of Utah, 590 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, USA. thomas.higgins@hsc.utah.edu
authors.forename: Thomas F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Higgins
authors.forename: Joshua B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Klatt
authors.forename: Timothy C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Beals
mesh_terms: D000671:Amputation, Surgical; D000673:Amputation, Traumatic / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007869:Leg Injuries / Q000601:surgery; D023821:Limb Salvage; D035002:Lower Extremity / Q000293:injuries* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures; D012677:Sensation; D013524:Surgical Flaps