Background: Degenerative joint disease is not uncommon in amputees and reaches the orthopedic surgeon when all other conservative methods to manage these patients have failed. Several case reports describing hip and knee arthroplasties in patients with hip and knee joint diseases or fractures with the distal part amputated, either in the contralateral or ipsilateral limb, exist in literature.
Objective: This article focuses only on total knee and total hip arthroplasty in amputees who have had severe osteoarthritis of the ipsilateral hip and knee joints.
Study design: Literature review.
Method: Literature search in database and summary of all the cases.
Results: All narratives indicate positive outcomes with improvement in physical function and quality of life.
Conclusion: The reports suggest that slight modifications in surgical procedure and in the rehabilitation protocol as compared to other patients with joint arthroplasties can alleviate pain and make such patients ambulatory and gain maximum range of motion. Therefore, it appears that careful preoperative evaluation and planning tailored to suit individual cases maximizes postoperative good end results beneficial to the patients regardless of age or cause of osteoarthritis.
Keywords: Orthopedic surgery; total joint arthroplasties.
© The International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics 2013.