Comparing treatments

  Preserve the foot Amputation
What is involved?

Several surgeries to try to keep more of your foot.

No walking or standing for several weeks, sometimes in a cast or splint.

Possibly a long period of special dressings for the wound.

One surgery to remove the damaged foot, below the knee.

Fitting with a prosthesis once the wound has healed (usually 4-6 weeks after surgery).

Results

50 out 100 people have an amputation within a year.

An average of 2.5 surgeries and longer stay in the hospital.

Average of 9 months for wound healing.

74 out of 100 people can walk with a prosthesis after the procedure.

An average of 1 surgery and shorter stay in the hospital.

About 4 to 6 weeks for the wound to heal enough to start walking on a prosthesis.

Advantages

The feeling that you’ve tried everything to keep your foot.

Renewed feeling of independence.

Faster healing.

Able to walk sooner with fewer things that can go wrong.

Less time in the hospital and fewer surgeries.

Disadvantages

High risk of eventual amputation.

Longer time in the hospital with more surgeries.

Longer period where you cannot walk.

Some patients consider a prosthesis undesirable.

It’s difficult to no longer have your foot.

You will continue to heal and get used to the prosthesis for a year or more. 

Pain in the amputated limb.