View clinical trials related to Amputation.
Filter by:The fit of the residual limb within a prosthetic socket is a primary concern for many amputees. A poor fit can lead to skin irritation, tissue breakdown, and pain. Further, amputees with diabetes or vascular dysfunction often have difficulty maintaining healthy residual limb tissue; a condition that could be mitigated by the application of negative pressure (i.e., vacuum suspension). The aim of this research is to characterize the residual limb response to a vacuum suspension system and to measure prosthetic performance in comparison to a typical suction suspension system. The proposed research plan involves two sets of human subject experiments: (1) prospective, randomized cross-over study to quantify performance of a vacuum suspension system as compared to a total surface bearing suction socket in terms of pistoning, maintaining limb volume, step counts, and subjective measures of fit and (2) measurement of transcutaneous oxygen tension as a function of vacuum pressure.
This study will examine whether tactile (touch) abilities at the lip are more acute in people with upper limb amputation compared with healthy normal volunteers. People with an amputated upper limb have an expanded brain representation of the lip that may correlate with heightened tactile spatial acuity. Normal volunteers will be recruited for this study. Candidates will be screened with physical and neurological examinations. (Amputee volunteers will be studied at the amputee clinic at the University of Tubingen, Germany.) Participants will sit comfortably in a chair, wearing a blindfold, during the following experiments: - Plastic domes with grooves are placed on parts of the lower lip on either side for a few seconds. The volunteer is then asked to identify the direction of the grooves relative to the long axis of the lip. - The participant's arm is placed in a cast and the index finger is immobilized. The same test done on the lip is repeated on the distal part of the index finger. Each part of the test lasts about 20 minutes, and the entire experiment takes about 2 hours.