“The doctor has suggested finger amputation for my father. How successful is this method of controlling gangrene from spreading?”
My father is heavily diabetic. He recently had an injury in the thumb of his left foot. The doctor has suggested removing the thumb because of gangrene. Will removal of the thumb guarantee that the gangrene does not spread?
6 Answers
SurgeonAmputation
Unfortunately, there are no guarantees, but by removing the thumb became gangrenous because blood vessels were not health enough to bring blood to that distal part of your fathers body. No blood no life, the dead tissue can then be colonized by parasitic bacteria and become septic - that is the real risk. By removing any connection, you decrease the risk of localized infection becoming generalized.
He needs a transmetatarsal amputation.
Usually, this method controls the infection. Despite this, it is very important that your father's diabetes is under good control because the underlying problem is not gangrene, but poor control of diabetes.
The thumb has to be amputated, nevertheless, there is no guarantee, and risk for further spreading is highly related to the blood flow situation of the limb. This should be checked before surgery.
Check the arterial circulation with Doppler before the amputation of the thumb. Before the amputatation needs prophylactic antibiotic
That really depends upon the cause the gangrene. If it is from infection, I would say yes. It’s from advanced atherosclerotic vascular disease, I would be hesitant to say yes.
