Iranian Journal of War and Public Health

 Background and purpose: Limb loss is a phenomenon that induces disability in patient undergoing amputation. Amputation is needed in treatment of war related patients and most of amputees suffer of chronic amputation-related pain. Information about outcomes after lower limb amputation is useful when determining the treatment options for these patients.

Purpose: consideration of quality of long-term outcomes of war-related amputation.

Material and methods: For this study, 34 Iranian soldiers who had one-side lower limb amputation were asked to answer the Persian version of Prosthesis Evaluation Questionnaire (PEQ). The PEQ has been shown to have a high degree of content validity and temporal stability. Results: All of participants at least suffered of one kind of amputation related pain in the previous 4 weeks. Phantom sensation was reported 91.2%, with phantom pain 86% , and 8.8% of patients did not have any pain in residual limb. 88.2% endured pain in lateral limb as well as back pain.

Conclusion: According to this study, the most prevalent outcomes in war-related amputee are phantom sensation, residual limb pain, lateral limb pain, back pain and phantom pain.