Partial calcanectomy for the treatment of large ulcerations of the heel and calcaneal osteomyelitis. An amputation of the back of the foot

Abstract

Twelve patients who had a large ulceration over the heel were managed with a partial calcanectomy, in lieu of a below-the-knee amputation, after unsuccessful non-operative treatment of the ulcer. Only patients who had an ankle-arm index (the ratio of blood pressure at the ankle to the brachial blood pressure) of more than 0.45, a transcutaneous PO2 of more than twenty-eight millimeters of mercury (3.7 kilopascals), a level of albumin of more than 3.0 grams per deciliter (thirty grams per liter), and a total lymphocyte count of more than 1500 were managed with a partial calcanectomy. The primary diagnosis was diabetes in seven patients, peripheral vascular disease in three, quadriplegia in one, and myelodysplasia in one. The duration of follow-up averaged thirty-three months and ranged from seven to sixty-four months. The wound healed after the partial calcanectomy in ten of the twelve patients. Nine of these ten patients maintained the level of mobility that they had had preoperatively. (One patient was unable to walk because he was quadriplegic before the operation). The wound did not heal in two patients, and those patients ultimately had a below-the-knee amputation and a decrease of one grade on the scale that was used to evaluate walking ability.