A Prospective Assessment of an Adjustable, Immediate Fit, Subischial Transfemoral Prosthesis.

Objective: To assess the feasibility of an adjustable, subischial transfemoral prosthesis by comparing self-reported outcome measures regarding socket comfort, fit and utility relative to a persons' conventionally made socket. Assessing limb compressibility was another aim of this study. Design: A single-group pre-post intervention design. Setting: Physical medicine and rehabilitation biomechanics laboratory. Participants: All 18 enrolled participants (N = 18) completed the feasibility trial. There were 16 men and 2 women with an average age of 59.4 (±7) years. Most of the participants (61.1%) had worn a socket for 1 to 10 years before the trial, 22.2% of the participants had worn one for less than a year, and 16.7% of the participants had worn a prosthesis for more than 10 years. Intervention: Participants were fit with the study prosthesis and used it for a 2-week home trial. Main Outcome Measures: A Prosthetic Comfort and Utility Questionnaire was completed on the participant's conventional prosthetic device and the subischial socket system after the trial. Results: The adjustable subischial prostheses were rated superior overall to the participant's conventional sockets (40.9 ± 7.2 vs 32.8 ± 10.8; P=.004). Six of the 10 parameters measured (adjustability, overall fit, prosthesis weight, sitting comfort, standing comfort, and standing stability) were rated higher for the adjustable prostheses compared to the conventional sockets. Compression of the soft tissues of the thigh ranged from 5.6 ± 4.2 cm at the distal end to 7.3 ± 3.6 cm at the proximal site. There were no falls, skin breakdown, or limb ischemia. At the 2-month telephone follow-up, 61% of subjects had transitioned to using the adjustable subischial socket most of the time. Conclusions: The adjustable, immediate fit, subischial prosthesis provided safe, comfortable, and functional ambulation for persons with transfemoral limb loss in this short-term feasibility study. This study supports the consideration of a new paradigm in transfemoral prosthetics-adjustable subischial sockets. These devices should be tested in a larger multi-center study.

Paciente con amputación transfemoral derecha, clavo gamma y síndrome hemimotor derecho: valoración y manejo del proceso de protetización / Patient with a right transfemoral amputation, gamma nail, and right Hemi-motor syndrome: assessment and management of the prosthetic fitting

Introducción: la decisión de protetizar a un paciente amputado depende de: la etiología, nivel de amputación, uni o bilateralidad, comorbilidades, soporte sociofamiliar, capacidad funcional y motivación del paciente. Observación clínica: varón, 83 años, diabético, cardiopatía isquémica, accidente cerebrovascular con paresia braquial derecha residual en año 2000. Clavo gamma por fractura pertro-cantérea derecha en 2012 y amputación transfemoral derecha en 2018 de causa vascular. Se protetiza mediante encaje de contención isquiática CAT-CAM, sistema de suspensión tipo Kiss, rodilla de bloqueo a la extensión con adaptación del sistema de desbloqueo en porción antero-interna del encaje y pie Sach. Tras tratamiento fisioterápico, consigue deambulación autónoma con ayuda de un bastón y tercera persona por dificultad para agarre de MSD. Conclusión: los médicos rehabilitadores debemos apostar por dotar a nuestros pacientes de autonomía y funcionalidad, siempre que sea viable.

Introduction: prosthesis, an amputee patient, depends on etiology, level, uni or bilaterality, comorbidities, socio-family support, functional capacity, and motivation of the patient. Clinical observation: male, 83 years old, diabetic, ischemic heart disease, stroke with residual upper right limb (URL) paresis in 2000. Gamma nail due to the right trochanteric fracture in 2012, and right transfemoral amputation in 2018 of vascular cause. Prosthetic fitting CAD-CAM socket/interface, Kiss type suspension system, extension locking knee with an adaptation of the unlocking system in the antero-internal portion of the socket, and Sach foot. After physiotherapeutic treatment, he achieves independent walking with the help of 1 cane and third-person due to difficulty in the URL grip. Conclusion: rehabilitation doctors must bet on providing our patients with independency, and better function, whenever it is viable.

The use of surface electromyography to assess transfemoral amputees: methodological and functional perspective

Aim: Surface electromyography (sEMG) has been established as a safe non-invasive method to investigate neuromuscular function. However, the use of this instrument to assess lower limbs of transfemoral amputees still presents a lack of standardization in its methods of signal acquisition and processing. The aim of this study was to review the current state of sEMG utilization to assess transfemoral amputees, the procedures adopted for the acquisition and the functional findings. Methods: This is a literature review. Five electronic databases were searched to find the studies: All relevant information of each study was extracted and registered. Methodological quality was evaluated using a customized checklist. Results: Eight studies followed the inclusion criteria and were included in this paper. Four studies did not reach more than 80% of the quality checklist, few studies fully described the methodology applied. The muscles assessed were similar in all studies, electrodes placement was determined by different criteria. Conclusion: This paper demonstrates that a few studies have used this method to assess this population and the main variable aspect is concerned to the placement of the electrodes. More researches are needed to better understand the neuromuscular behavior of amputees by using sEMG and assist future researches to develop more reproducible and reliable studies.(AU)