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Limb Restoration

There are many conditions and problems that can put your limbs at risk—infections, tumors, severe traumatic damage, and more. CU Medicine offers unique treatment options to help you avoid amputation and maintain your quality of life.

The Limb Restoration Program unites doctors from multiple specialties in the care and preservation of your arm or leg. We meet every week to review and consult on all cases, ensuring collaboration and the best treatment plan for each individual patient. There is a number of cases that can cause limb-threatening conditions. Our Limb Restoration team delivers unmatched care to prevent loss of limb.

We treat patients with limb-threatening conditions such as:

Infected nonunions

An infected nonunion is a bone that doesn't heal because of an infection. There may often be chronic wounds associated with this issue, so you receive care from a team of experts including orthopedic traumatologists, plastic and microvascular surgeons, and infectious disease specialists.

Fracture nonunions

A fracture nonunion is a bone that doesn't heal properly. While most bones do heal on their own, certain factors can put you at risk. Too much movement or too little blood flow can contribute to nonunions, as can smoking, diabetes, anemia, and generally poor health. A nonunion can occur anywhere, but common culprits are the femur, tibia, and humerus. There are a few treatment options—both surgical and non-surgical—that range from a bone stimulator device to bone grafting to revision surgery.

Malunions

A malunion occurs when a bone heals in an inappropriate position. This can happen when fractures are not treated or when previous treatment fails. Malunions can cause severe pain and limited function, necessitating treatment by our orthopedic traumatology specialists.Treatments can range from physical therapy to post-traumatic reconstructive procedures that utilize osteotomies (cuts in the bone) to restore alignment and proper healing.

Bone infections 

The technical term for a bone infection is osteomyelitis. We also treat prosthetic joint infections as well as atypical joint and soft tissue infections. Certain types of bone and joint infections develop in patients with an underlying condition of autoimmune disease or immune suppression. This could originate from rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, or an organ transplant. A history of trauma or injury to a bone, for example, can create a an infection. A fracture, deep bruise, or puncture of a foreign object can also add to your risk. If you're treated with hardware to fix the fracture or if the trauma occurred where the wound became contaminated with dirt or debris, you may be more susceptible to developing an infection. People with total joint replacements that suffer an infection elsewhere in their body are at increased risk of infection in the joint that has been replaced. This requires an extensive amount of time and numerous surgeries to rectify. Infections can develop anytime after a surgery; however, often there is not a known cause of a bone infection or reason for infection to settle into a joint.