Wound healing in above-knee amputations in relation to skin perfusion pressure

In 59 above-knee amputations healing of the stumps was correlated with the local skin perfusion pressure (SPP) measured preoperatively as the external pressure required to stop isotope washout using 1318-- or 125I--antipyrine mixed with histamine. Out of the 11 cases with an SPP below 30 mmHg no less than nine (82 per cent) suffered severe wound complications. Out of the 48 cases with an SPP above 30 mmHg severe wound complications occurred in only four cases (8 per cent). The difference in wound complication rate is highly significant (P less than 0.01). The postoperative SPP measured on the stumps was on average only slightly and insignificantly higher than the preoperative values, explaining why the preoperative values related so closely to the postoperative clinical course. We conclude that the SPP can be used to predict ischaemic wound complications in above-knee amputations as has previously been shown to be the case in below-knee amputations.