Reamputation in patients with diabetic-related minor amputations who underwent physical therapy during their hospitalization. A single-facility retrospective cohort study

Background: Diabetic foot lesions are a major cause of non-traumatic lower limb amputations; they can interfere with daily life, reduce physical function and lower a patient’s quality of life. Physical therapy is necessary to prevent such social disadvantage. Patients at high risk of reamputation may require physical therapy to prevent reamputation. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the factors that influence re-amputation in patients with minor amputations who were treated with physical therapy during their hospitalization.Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of 245 consecutive hospitalized patients who presented to our Wound Care Center between January 2015 and February 2018 and received physical therapy after a minor amputation. Participants were identified from admission records (to surgical and physical therapy units) stored in the electronic medical records. We examined reamputations that occurred in the ipsilateral lower extremity during the 1-year post-discharge outpatient period. The maximum follow-up period was１year. We used Cox proportional hazards analysis to examine factors affecting the risk of reamputation.Results: Of the 129 patients enrolled, 42 patients (32.5%) underwent reamputations during an average observation period of 6.2 months (range, 2.1 to 10.9 months). The factors associated with reamputation were a requirement for hemodialysis, ankle dorsiflexion angle, and ambulation Functional Independence Measure score.Conclusions: We identified a requirement for hemodialysis, ankle dorsiflexion angle, and functional independence measure (FIM) ambulation as the factors associated with reamputation in patients with diabetes who had undergone minor amputation. In the future, developing a physical therapy program that focuses on these factors could help reduce reamputations.