Anatomic sites of foot lesions resulting in amputation among diabetics and non-diabetics.

Objective: To identify and quantify the anatomic sites of foot lesions resulting in amputation among patients suffering from peripheral arterial disease with and without diabetes mellitus.

Design: A retrospective study.

Setting: Department of Orthopaedic Rehabilitation.

Self-injury resulting in amputation among vascular patients: a retrospective epidemiological study.

In the course of 24 months, 164 nontraumatic vascular amputees were accepted for prosthetic rehabilitation; 120 (73%) were diabetic and 44 (27%) non-diabetic. Subjects were divided into two groups, the first consisting of 114 with spontaneous foot infection or gangrene and the second of 50, of whom 44 were diabetic and six had peripheral arterial disease on its own. Sixty-five per cent of all amputees had fewer than nine years of formal education and 46% were in the low-income bracket, but no significant relationship was found between mechanism of self-injury and level of education and income.

[Evaluation of residual function of the hand in its defects].

The authors have worked out a method of evaluation of residual function of the hand. The method is based on successful on successful 25 types of grasping and functional positions which are most commonly occurring in every-day life of correspond to certain professional skills. This method has been used in the examination of 60 patients before surgical treatment, after reconstructive interventions and subsequent prosthetics.