INNOVATION FOR INDEPENDENCE
ISSUE 124 DECEMBER/JANUARY 2018/19 £6.95
New service may give amputees a pain and socket-free future THE country’s first dedicated Osseointegration and Targeted Muscle Reinnervation (TMR) surgery and rehabilitation service for amputees has been launched in London.
The service, to be run by Dorset Orthopaedic and Relimb – part of the private patients’ unit (PPU) based at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust — will allow amputees, who wish to live a life free from socket-related problems or nerve-related pain, to access these innovative surgical procedures and follow-up rehabilitation in one package of care. Relimb surgeons Norbert Kang and Alex Woollard, who work in the PPU at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust in Hampstead will perform the surgical procedures, while Dorset Orthopaedic — which has clinics in Ringwood and Burton-On-Trent — will provide follow-up rehabilitation and support. The launch of the service took place at the Royal College of Physicians, with Norbert and Alex explaining the intricacies of their groundbreaking surgical procedures alongside a number of inspiring patient testimonies. Delegates — which comprised patients considering the surgery, case managers and solicitors — heard from Caroline Rutley-Frayne, who had osseointegration surgery on her leg in Australia, and now enjoys long hikes up to 20km a day, Alex Paterson, who is the UK’s first upper limb amputee to have both TMR and osseointegration surgeries and former Olympic judo competitor Jo Horton, who had TMR
surgery to rid herself of phantom limb pain.
Matthew Hughes, clinical services director at Dorset Orthopaedic, said: “The event was a huge success and we have had excellent feedback from all parties. We’re delighted to be a part of this pioneering new partnership with Relimb and bringing these incredible treatments to the UK.” TMR is a complex surgical procedure which can give patients a realistic chance of complete relief from neuroma pain while simultaneously improving phantom limb pain. For upper limb amputees, TMR surgery also gives them the means to control far more complex, multiarticulated, prostheses — operating in much the same way a person would use a normal limb — instead of a standard prosthesis. The surgery involves identifying the free nerve ends in a patient’s stump and connecting them to residual muscles within, or close to, the amputation site. Electrical signals travelling down the nerves are then amplified by the muscles, allowing them to achieve outcomes associated with this surgery. Osseointegration surgery involves the insertion of a metal implant into the residual bone of a stump. Its unique properties help it to fuse with the bone, creating a solid and secure fixation point for a prosthesis. Currently, most osseointegration patients are lower limb amputees – especially above knee — but it is suitable for almost all lower and upper limb amputees.
President of the international FIA Disability and Accessibility Commission, Nathalie McGloin, has called for fundamental, widespread changes to be made within the world of motor racing, to make the sport more inclusive and accessible for people with disabilities. Nathalie is currently the only female tetraplegic racing driver in the world to be competing at professional level, and would like to see significant advancements made within the sport to increase opportunities for disabled drivers to participate through more accessible competition licence application processes, as well as improving the attendance experience for spectators, officials, volunteers and drivers at race circuits globally.