Lengthening a short femoral amputation stump: A case of tissue expander and endoprosthesis

Abstract

A patient's function with prosthesis after leg amputation depends on the length of the stump. A stable suspension of the socket and the effective lever arm for its motion both relate to the length. The residual muscle mass finally is less in a shorter stump. For transfemo-ral amputations, especially the lack of adductor muscle force is critical. In above-knee amputees hip strength increases linearly with stump length (James 1973) and a short below-knee stump takes twice the energy expenditure of a normal-length stump (Gonzalez 1974).