Objective:  to develop technology for high amputations of the lower extremities.

Materials and methods. We analyzed the materials of the Nizhny Novgorod branch of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Moscow Orthopedic and Orthopedic Enterprise” Ministry of Labor of Russia for the period 2004–2018, the operation logs of the purulent surgery department of PIMU (1971–2018), and the electronic medical history “Program 1C” (2006–2012) and “Medialogue” (2013–2018) in all departments of PIMU, where high amputations of the lower extremities are possible performed.

Results. Between 2006 and 2018, 391 lower limbs were cut off in 289 patients (above the knee – 128, below the knee – 263). With diabetic foot syndrome, 135 (34.5 %) amputations were performed, due to burns and frostbite, 73 (18.7 %) operations were made, while arterial atherosclerosis – 57 (14.6 %) operations, and the rest – about the consequences of injuries, tumors, malformations and vicious stumps. The number of amputations on the shin is 2 times more than on the hip. A technology has been developed for the formation of a new support and movement organ, including amputation of the lower leg, anesthesia, intensive care, and rehabilitation treatment.

Conclusion. An analysis of the initial applications for prosthetics showed that the most frequent high amputations of the lower extremities are performed due to gangrene in arterial atherosclerosis (53.9 %) and diabetes mellitus (24.9 %). High amputations of the lower extremities at the hip level are performed in 60.4 % of patients and only in 30.1 % of patients – at the shin level. Malformations and diseases of the stumps of the thigh and lower leg are detected in 15.4 % of patients. The gold standard should be recognized as myoplastic amputation at the border of the upper and middle third of the shin with excision of the soleus muscle. Preservation of the knee joint creates the conditions for optimal prosthetics and timely social adaptation of patients. 

Objective: to analyze the effectiveness of purulent-necrotic wounds management using intravenous laser irradiation of blood (405nm).

Materials and methods. Object of study – patients with purulent-necrotic wounds. Clinical studies and analysis of the intravenous laser blood irradiation (405 nm) effect on the wound healing process and on the healing speed of purulent soft tissues wounds in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus were carried out.

Results. It was found that the use of intravenous laser blood irradiation (405 nm) is a highly effective method for the treatment of purulent soft tissues wounds, which allows to reduce the number of complications and shorten the time for complete epithelization of purulent wounds by 7–10 days compared with traditional treatment. 

Objective: to demonstrate the successful complex treatment of a shin circular wound in a patient with intense pain due to critical limb ischemia and wound infection, which became possible against the background of prolonged peripheral blockade.

Materials and methods. A 72-year-old patient with critical ischemia of the right lower extremity was treated for a circular purulent-necrotic wound of the shin leg from November 2016 to April 2017 at the Wounds and Wound Infections Department of FSBI “A. V. Vishnevsky NRC of Surgery” Ministry of Health of Russia. An examination revealed the impossibility of right lower limb arterial insufficiency surgical correction. The patient refused amputation of the lower limb. For the relief of pain, a long-term blockage of the sciatic nerve was used (infusion of ropivacaine 6.0–8.0 mg / hr into the perineural catheter, additional 100 mg ropivacaine boluses were used before performing traumatic daily dressings). The intensity of pain was evaluated on a visual analogue scale (VAS), sought to achieve a pain intensity of not more than 3 points at rest and not more than 4 points on – when moving.

Results. Blockade of the sciatic nerve reduced the intensity of pain from 8–10 to 0–3 points, which made it possible to continue treatment. In total, the duration of sciatic nerve catheterization at the stages of treatment was 115 days (18 + 41 + 23 + 32), the maximum duration of one of the peripheral nerve catheterizations was 41 days. Complications associated with nerve catheterization were not observed in the patient. The pain syndrome is stopped, the area of the wound defect is reduced in size. Discharged for outpatient treatment.

Conclusion. Long-term peripheral analgesia made it possible to gain time necessary for cleansing the wound surface from necrotic tissues, therapy with drugs that improve arterial blood supply to the limbs, as well as for performing reconstructive and reconstructive operations after the wound process has passed to the reparative stage. Long-term peripheral blockade is a prerequisite for the successful treatment of extensive wounds of the lower extremities caused by insufficient arterial blood supply at the stage of critical limb ischemia, accompanied by intense pain.