The Ertl Procedure Option of Primary and Revison surgery

The Ertl Procedure Option of Primary and Revison surgery

Anthony T. Barr

2/20/2002

Dr. Cain,

I have sent your comments below to both Dr.John and Dr. Jan Ertl to
determine if he may respond to the presumptions stated by your doctor
below..Dr John Ertl has been a board director of the Barr Foundation since
1981.
He and his brother,William developed the procedure and his son Jan, today
performs a modified version today on quite a number of amputees.

It is due to these many mixed signals that both Dr.Ertls have agreed to
participate in a surgical film and documentary of amputation surgery for the
Barr Foundation.Our organization will in turn distribute the documentary to
open minded surgeons, teaching medical universities and colleges ,
prosthetists and amputees for them to individually make a educated decision
as to the feasibility and option of the Ertl technique of amputee surgery.

As a medical professional yourself, I am sure you understand the importance
of pursuing all options.
Hopefully Dr. John Ertl and Dr. Jan Ertl will respond to me with a reply and
I will pass it on to the list serve.
But while awaiting that think about making a trip to Sacramento to have your
specific case evaluated by Dr.Jan Ertl.
You may or may not be a good candidate for revision surgery or Ertl
principal modifications.
You have addressed your inquiry below to informed activists. I hope ther
are a few out there that may help suggest to the Amputee Coalition of
America (ACA) a national amputees consumer organization, to take on real and
support meaningfull amputees advocacy issues including, but certainly not
limited, to supporting proper amputee surgery by members of the AMA!
Tony Barr
Barr Foundation
www.oandp.com/barr

----- Original Message -----
From: Jeff Cain < <Email Address Redacted> >
To: Amputee Information Network < <Email Address Redacted> >
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2002 9:05 AM
Subject: Ertle?


> Informed Activists
>
> As I contemplate the second BK, my prosthetist has recommended the Ertle
> procedure, but my orthopod thinks that this is unnecessary for an adult,
> now non traumatic amputation. I would like to ask the list for their
> recommendation about surgery type for the second BK.
>
> It may be helpful to know that my first BK was performed approximately
> one week after my crash. The stump is long (chosen because of my skiing
> and rollerblading recreational choices before the crash). I have had
> skin problems in an Alpha/pin system (recurrent folliculitis) severe
> enough to require a skin revision surgery. These problems resolved with
> a change to Silipos and a sleeve suspension. In addition, the forces
> from the pin systems increased the mobility of the skin and soft tissues
> on the stump, making for less rotational control and internal
> pistoning. These too mostly resolved with using a sleeve.
>
> My understanding is that the Ertle allows connection of the distal tibia
> and fibia, resulting in better circulation (?) in the bones and less
> osteoporosis. The other touted benefit is that there is more stability
> in the soft tissues (muscles etc.) of the residual limb.
>
> The orthopedic surgeon replied that that the Ertle was great for
> prosthetics twenty years ago, but not necessary today. His thinking is
> that the advantage of the Ertle is that it allows weight bearing on the
> distal end of the stump which is not necessary with today's prosthetics.
> The Ertle also requires at least 6 to 8 weeks of no weight bearing after
> the amputation (or wearing a prosthesis).
>
> Stated benefits of a more traditional amputation would be early weight
> bearing with and IPOP. Stability of the soft tissues could be maintained
> with fancy sewing.
>
> So what do y'all think (I visited Texas once and picked up the drawl)
>
> Jeff
>