Miles' Journey
Miles shares his experience of how Relimb, a specialist team at the Royal Free Hospital, helped with his bone-anchored implant revision surgery.
I had a couple of visits and consultancies, just to check that it would be in my best interest, and it won't be any, sort of effects in terms of the implant and the prosthetics that I use.
After a tragic accident in 2009, Miles sustained such severe damage to his right leg that he and his surgeons decided that it would be in his best interests to have an amputation of the leg above the knee.ย Since osseointegration surgery was not yet offered routinely in the UK at that time, his implant was inserted by surgeons in Australia in 2016.ย Fortunately, the Relimb service was started at the Royal Free Hospital in 2018.ย So, when Miles developed problems with his stoma (the point in the amputation stump through which the bone-anchored implant passes through the skin) he made his way to this hospital for help.
Mr Norbert Kang, consultant and plastic surgeon at the Royal Free Hospital and one of the lead specialist consultants for osseointegration said, โMiles presented problems with his stoma breaking down at 6 years after his initial surgery.ย There was quite a bit of discharge and a little bit of pain.ย Having examined Miles, we offered him the possibility of revision surgery for his stoma, and that surgery was carried out successfully in 2022 creating a stable, pain-free and dry stoma."
What this case has taught us is that surgery using osseointegrated bone-anchors is not something that can be carried out by just any group of surgeons.ย It should only be carried out by surgeons who are experts in the field with a complete understanding of what is needed to place a bone anchor successfully and what is needed to look after these patients if and when things go wrong after surgery.
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