engleski

Segmantal application of TENS in occurring phantom pain and phantom sensation in patients with above-knee amputations.

We investigated a group of 60 patients with above- knee amputations divided into two groups, The first group was treated for 21 days by conventional TENS at the corresponding segment of lumbosacral spine (L4-S1). The other group took 50 mg Amitriptilin in the evening. The average age of the subjects was 53.5 (from 17 to 85). Nine subjects were women, and 51 were men. 34 amputations were caused by circular- metabolic disorders, 25 of them had posttraumatic cause and one amputation was due to a bone tumor. 37 of the subjects (61%) localized phantom phenomena at the foot, 8 (13.3%) at the lower limb (not including the Ioot) , 6 (10%) at the heel and 9 (15%) from the lower leg to the toes. 19 patients had permanent phantom pain and sensation, 19 had them in the evening, 11 patients in the morning and 11 during the day. The pain was measured with VFS, from O to 5. There were no statistically slgnlticant differences noticed in the cause of amputation between the two groups (p=0, 12), nor between the groups according to the localisation of phantom phenomena (p=0, 19) and also not as to the time of occurrence (p=0, 28). The Hi-square test showed the statistically slgnlflcant decrease of phantom sensation in the first group (P=0, 0001) as well as the statistically slgnmcant difference between the tested groups in reacting to phantom pain (p=O, OO) in the way that in the first group (TENS) 8 patients (30%) felt no pain after the therapy, while 22 patients (70%) fell only slight pain. The therapy effect lasted longer in the group treated with TENSthroughout the patients stay in the hospital, while in the second group treated with Amitriptilin, the effect of the therapy lasted only from 1-6 hours (p=O, OO). This research proves that when the conventional TENSis applied to the appropriate segment of spine, it can significantly help resolve the phantom phenomena in patients with the above- the-knee amputations.

Segmantal application of TENS; above-knee amputations

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