Primary suture of amputation wound: pro et contra

During the First World War and the Second World War more than 80 % of wounded persons had injuries of upper or lower limbs. In the recent war in the Former Yugoslavia the percentage of persons with these injuries was above 80%. Each war is also characterized by the high percentage of wounded persons with amputations of upper or lower extremities. These amputations occurred mostly in the cases of polytrauma. In other cases we faced with severely wounded extremities with an extensive destruction of soft tissues, bones, blood vessels and joints, where the amputation is the only possible intervention to save the patient. In the previous World Wars, the surgeons have tried to shorten the time of treatment and to accept the surgical technique, by the application of primary suture of the wound. During the aggression on Bosnia and Herzegovina we were faced with a large number of wounded persons with amputations i.e. cases where we applied the primary suture. The results were still surprising and in many cases the wounds had primarily healed. The results were better when they were using primary suture on the upper extremities, measured at 61.9 % while the percentage of using the same suture on the lower limbs was of 48.8 %. The results of the war year 1995 were improved in comparison to the percentages listed above. The statistical analysis indicated that early application of the primary suture to the amputation wound was possible and largely successful, but, only when performed under certain conditions.