Amputation

Talk with your surgeon about what to expect during your procedure. An amputation requires a stay in a hospital. Procedures may vary depending on the type of amputation, your condition, and your surgeon’s practices.

An amputation may be done while you are asleep under general anesthesia, or while you are awake under spinal anesthesia. If spinal anesthesia is used, you will have no feeling from your waist down. Your surgeon will discuss this with you in advance.

You will be asked to remove any jewelry, contact lenses, glasses, hearing aids, or other objects that may interfere with the procedure.

You will be asked to remove your clothing and put on a gown.

Before the procedure you will be asked to confirm which limb is to be amputated. That limb will be clearly marked.

An IV line may be started in your arm or hand.

You will be positioned on the operating table.

The anesthesiologist will keep track of your heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and blood oxygen level during the procedure.

A thin, narrow tube (catheter) may be inserted into your bladder to drain urine.

The skin over the surgical site will be cleansed with an antiseptic solution.

To determine how much tissue to remove, the surgeon will check for a pulse at a joint close to the site. Skin temperatures, color, and the presence of pain in the diseased limb will be compared with those in a healthy limb.

After the incision, your surgeon may decide that more of the limb needs to be removed. The surgeon will keep as much of the functional stump length as possible. They will also leave as much healthy skin as possible to cover the stump area.

If the amputation is due to injury, the crushed bone will be removed and smoothed out to help with the use of an artificial limb. If needed, temporary drains that will drain blood and other fluids may be inserted.

After completely removing the dead tissue, the surgeon may decide to close the flaps. This is called a closed amputation. Or the surgeon may decide to leave the site open. This is called open flap amputation. In a closed amputation, the wound will be stitched closed right away. This is usually done if there is little risk of infection. In an open flap amputation, the skin will remain drawn back from the amputation site for several days so any infected tissue can be cleaned off. At a later time, once the stump tissue is clean and free of infection, the skin flaps will be stitched together to close the wound.

A sterile bandage or dressing will be applied. The type of dressing used will depend on the type of surgery done.

The surgeon may place a stocking over the amputation site to hold drainage tubes and wound dressings, or the limb may be placed in traction or a splint.