Management of the sciatic nerve during transfemoral amputation: a survey of Dutch surgeons.

BACKGROUND

Neuropathic pain often occurs after leg amputation. It is unclear why some patients suffer from pain and others do not. Intraoperative nerve handling might correlate with these pain syndromes. It is unknown which nerve handling techniques are currently used among surgeons and whether a specific technique is related to eliciting these pain syndromes. The aim of this study was to investigate the current surgical sciatic nerve management used among surgeons in the Netherlands.

METHODS

A survey was carried out among Dutch surgeons. Additionally, surgical sciatic nerve management data were obtained from the surgical reports of transfemoral amputations that were performed in our hospital.

RESULTS

Seventy-eight of the 102 online surveys were returned. Sharp transection without ligation was used most often (41.0%), followed by sharp transection after ligation (30.8%). There were 38 transfemoral amputations performed in our hospital. Sharp transection after ligation was most often used (55.3%), followed by transection with electrocautery (13.2%).

CONCLUSIONS

All techniques of transecting the sciatic nerve are currently performed by Dutch surgeons. These results provide a solid basis to perform future studies to investigate whether a specific surgical technique is related to postamputation pain syndromes.