Overview of Amputations
An amputation is the removal of all or a portion of a body part that is enclosed in skin. An amputation can occur at an accident site such as at the scene of an auto accident, or it can occur at the scene of an animal attack, or it can occur in battle (from a gunshot or an explosion). Amputation can also be a strategically planned surgical procedure. There are two reasons for amputations: severe injury or disease.
Injury and Disease-Related Amputations
In some cases, severe injuries or disease can damage parts of the body to the extent that the body is unable to repair or heal the affected body part. The problem is that when human tissue dies, infection can set in, thus causing life-threatening conditions such as gangrene. The infection site provides a friendly environment for the dangerous bacteria to spread to other parts of the body.
Dead tissue leads to infection and the cause of tissue death is the lack of blood flow in the diseased or injured body part. When either disease or injuries damage the blood vessels extensively, the tissues that are supplied by those blood vessels die, and from there dangerous infection can take over. Once it's determined that the damaged or infected tissue is beyond repair and cannot be restored, then the surgeon may decide that amputation is necessary in order to protect the rest of the victim's body from the spread of infection.
Amputations can be performed on a number of different parts of the body. In general, an amputation is performed on a portion of an arm or leg, in which case they are referred to as upper extremity or lower extremity amputations accordingly. While someone may lose a portion of their finger or a single toe, the most severe amputation cases may require that as much as the entire lower body is removed from the hips downward.
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