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MEDICINE IN
SAN ANTONIO

Post-Amputation

Challenges

By Demetrios N. Macris, MD

At the national level, two million Ameri-
cans live with limb loss, 500 people in the
United States lose a limb each day and
185,000 individuals have an amputation
each year. At a more regional level, the
numbers are just as astonishing. In the state
of Texas, 16,005 amputations were per-
formed in 2014, and that number is ex-
pected to double by 2050. The highest
percent (46%) of amputees are between the
ages of 45-64, which is the prime age for
highest earning potential, thus likely placing
a financial burden on the amputee, their
family and the community. The sedentary
lifestyle resulting from being wheelchair
bound following amputation is linked to
more disease, potentially a second amputa-
tion, and contributes to over $130 billion in
related health costs. An amputee without
mobility has an impact on the number of
people in the workforce, as well as the
economy and tax revenue. Is there a way to
avoid limb loss and its negative impacts?
Yes, preventing amputation is possible. It
takes 100% community awareness, early de-
tection of a limb at risk, control of diabetes
(preferably thru diet and exercise but also
with appropriate medications that are admin-
istered correctly), full service hospitals, reli-
able and knowledgeable home health
providers, aggressive wound care teams, and
24/7 access to the expertise of a team of vas-
cular surgeons who are all dedicated to the
diagnosis, treatment and lifelong care of the
patient subject to limb loss as a result of vas-
cular insufficiency. Notably, the patient and
their family/caretakers, not just the healthcare

26 San Antonio Medicine • January 2020