S. N. Kailasanadhan,
BACKGROUND Lower extremity amputation is one of the commonest procedures done in any surgical hospital. The ageing of our population and the persistent trend for delayed and inconsistent referral to vascular surgery are major reasons for large number of amputations in developing countries. Despite advances in lower extremity revascularisation, with widespread use of alternative vein conduit and bypass to tibial /pedal targets, there has been no remarkable reduction in major lower extremity amputation in our country. Compounding the problem, amputations are rarely considered by anaesthesiologist and/ or surgeons as a case of the same magnitude as a major vascular reconstruction or cardiac case. Surgical site infections, flap necrosis, wound gaping, stump pain etc., are some of the night mares of an amputee. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study was conducted for a period of one year starting from January 2009 to December 2009 at Dept. of Surgery, Govt. Medical College, Kottayam. Twenty-five cases were taken as control group. Twenty-five were enrolled into study group and in these patients, Fogarty catheter thrombectomy was done. Post surgery complications like flap necrosis, surgical site infection and mean hospital stay were studied in both groups. RESULTS Major postoperative complications were compared between the two groups. Flap necrosis was reported in 4% of cases in study group while that in control group was 24% with exact one tailed P (Chi square test) value being 0.049. Surgical wound infection was 20% and 38.9% respectively in both groups with P value being 0.5 is not statistically significant. Average hospital stay after surgery is 8.92 for case and 10.36 for control with a P value of 0.052. CONCLUSION Fogarty catheter thrombectomy is a very easily performed procedure which helps in establishing better circulation to the stump. It thus reduces postoperative complications like flap necrosis, rate of surgical site infections and also mean hospital stay.
