The effect of obstructive sleep apnea on amputation site healing

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is an independent risk for hypertension, cerebral artery stenosis, stroke and hypercoagulability.(1) Our research objective was to assess whether sleep disordered breathing affects the peripheral circulation, decreases perfusion as measured by TcPO2 and decreases the odds that a partial-foot amputation site will heal. We hypothesized that OSA would be an independent risk factor causing delayed healing of partial-foot amputations. We conducted a retrospective, observational study on a total of 307 patients who had TcPO2 measurements and underwent partial-foot amputation. Twenty-five of these patients had OSA. In our study, patients with OSA had a 3.7-fold increase in odds of healing within 3 months in comparison with patients without OSA. Of note, 16 patients (64%) with OSA were not treated with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and healed within 3 months. Our results do not support our hypothesis that the presence of sleep apnea may impair healing of partial foot amputations. Further studies are needed to fully determine the effect of OSA and its treatment on TcPO2s and healing.