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To Reconstruct or Not to Reconstruct?

2002; Massachusetts Medical Society; Volume: 347; Issue: 24 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1056/nejmp020150

1533-4406

Randolph Sherman,

Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies

In the opening scene of the movie “Dances with Wolves,” dazed Union Army soldiers with mangled limbs are laid out, resigned to their turn at the surgeon's cleaver. This scene is typical of health care in the mid-19th century, when severe leg trauma would more often than not result in early amputation. Now, 150 years later, the debate continues over whether complex limb salvage or early amputation followed by fitting of a prosthesis is most likely to allow return to a normal lifestyle.Progress in leg reconstruction has been marked by clearly defined steppingstones interspersed with decades of stagnation in . . .