Surgical technique of a bone-anchored prosthesis for transhumeral amputees.

OBJECTIVE

Fixating an arm prosthesis with a transcutaneous bone anchor provides a more comfortable and stable attachment than conventional socket-attached prosthetics. The objective is that bone anchoring will improve prosthetic usage, reduce prosthesis rejection, and aid to functions in daily life activities.

INDICATIONS: Subjects with transhumeral amputation or elbow disarticulation and insufficient functional effect of conventional socket-attached arm prostheses.

CONTRAINDICATIONS: Patients with local or systemic inflammatory processes, bone metabolism disorder, active use of chemotherapeutic or immunosuppressive medications and medically unexplained pain conditions in the respective residual arm.

SURGICAL TECHNIQUE: A cylindrical BADAL next (OTN Implants Germany, Rostock, Germany) humerus implant is transcutaneously inserted using a retrograde press-fit approach. The distal taper of the implant is connected to an adapter that serves as an abutment for the fixation of the postoperative load-set and arm prosthesis.

POSTOPERATIVE MANAGEMENT: Postoperative pain medication according to standard guidelines for shoulder surgery. Stoma care instructions before discharge from the hospital. Progressive loading at 6 weeks postoperatively using load plates of 100 g using in a compatible load set. Installation of an external arm prosthesis as soon as the weight of the arm prosthesis is reached.

RESULTS

In 4 individuals with median follow-up of 11 months, implant survival was 100%, prosthetic use improved from 0 h to an average 14 h per week, and no arm prosthesis rejection occurred. On a functional level, the 4 individuals improved from 0 to 5 on the patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) 33ADL PWP. This PROM measures 33 daily activities that can or can not be carried out with the prosthesis. No adverse events were reported.