Keynote Speech
Limb Amputations and Prosthetics

Speaker:	Wetz, Hans-Henning, Prof. Dr. Klinik und Poliklinik für TO und Rehabilitation
Date/Time:	Tu. 2010/05/11 09:30 - 10:00     export in calendar
Place:	Hall 1
Abstract:	Partial or full amputations of the upper or lower limbs is always associated with serious damage to patients’ physical and mental integrity. Well-executed surgery by the surgeon and mental stability on the part of the patient are the door to successful rehabilitation. Every amputee’s social life and career depends on these early decisions, whereas the quality of rehabilitation begins on the operating table. This lecture will focus on several interfaces between the patients’ personal ambitions and social environment and the surgeon’s qualifications in decisionmaking about stump length and function and, later, about optimal socket shape and fit. The large and increasing number of individuals requiring stump improvement and reconstructive surgery underlines the problem. Technology in prosthetics is moving foreward at a fast pace posing challenges to every member of the rehab team, especially surgeons. We need surgeons who are educated in P&O. Abstract