Lower limb amputations during 3 years in Hungary

We reviewed nationwide hospital data of amputations during 3 years to provide a comparison with similar data gathered about 20 years ago. Data were provided by the National Medical Records Centre and processed by our personally developed programmes. The cause of amputation was most often vascular disease, amputees were usually elderly, and the large majority of amputation surgery was carried out on the lower limb. The rate of transtibial amputation has increased favourably in the last 2 decades, but there are large regional differences within the country. Mortality parameters remarkably exceed those of foreign countries. Although the data accuracy is compromised, there are still ways of exploiting the data in favour of quality improvement of care, e.g. improve transtibial amputation rate, reduce mortality. The publication of data can be of benchmarking importance for hospitals by enabling them to compare their own results with those of other hospitals, as well as to develop and improve performance.