Related Experiment Videos
Landmine amputees referred to the Royal Medical Services-Jordan
1Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, King Hussein Medical Center, Amman, Jordan.
Objective:
To assess the epidemiology of landmine amputees at the Royal Medical Services (RMS) in Jordan.
Methods:
This is a retrospective study of patients with amputation due to landmine explosions seen in the prosthetics-orthotics clinic at the RMS in Jordan between January 1988 and January 2000. The records of all patients injured through landmine explosions were available for study.
Results:
During the 12-year study period, 226 patients with 241 amputations were seen in the clinic. Of these 212 (94%) were male, and 14 (6%) were female. Military personnel comprised 68.6% of the total. The majority of amputations involved the lower limbs, and the most frequent level was trans-tibial. Most of the patients were injured in the 1970s and 1990s. The majority of the patients were young, and 10% of the patients were children.
Conclusion:
The occurrence of amputations from landmine injuries in Jordan is considerable, and places a significant burden on the health care system.