ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY A survey on causes of amputation in a 9-year period in Iran Alia Ayatollahi Mousavi • A. R. Saied • Ehsan Heidari Received: 5 April 2012 / Published online: 22 July 2012 Ó Springer-Verlag 2012 Abstract Background Limb loss occurs as a result of different causes and has been increasing in many countries. This study determines the demography of amputees in one of the relatively large cities of Iran. Methods This retrospective study was undertaken on all of the amputees between 2003 and 2011. Patients’ demo- graphics including age, sex, the limb that had undergone amputation, etiology of limb loss and side and level of amputation were recorded. Also, the level of amputation was recorded as minor (below wrist or ankle) or major (above wrist or ankle). Results In total, 624 patients were enrolled in the study. The number of amputees was from 53 to 118/year. Of the patients, 508 were male (81.4 %) and 118 were female (18.6 %). The men with amputation were younger on average than women; 61.9 % of the amputations (386) were major and 38.1 % were minor (238). Overall, the most common cause of amputation was trauma and the most common level was transmetatarsal. The most com- mon level for major amputations was below knee. Conclusion In contrast to similar studies in developed countries, trauma was found to be the major cause of all types of amputations and in all age groups, which emphasizes the need for preventive measures in the country. Keywords Amputation Á Trauma Á Etiology Introduction Amputation means losing the whole or a part of a limb, which, without exception, will cause disability and will have economic, psychological and social effects on the individ- ual. The need for provisions to accommodate these effects is not always acknowledged by communities, health-care systems and governments, and the number of amputations performed has been increasing worldwide [1]. In Western countries, this rise is for the most part due to increased life expectancy. According to the newest statistics in the USA (to the best of our knowledge), about 1.7 million people live with amputations [2] and the number has increased in recent years [3]. It is estimated that 25–27 in 100,000 of the Ger- man population have undergone amputation [4]. More than 90 % of amputations in Western societies are the result of vascular diseases. In younger people, the most common causes of amputations are trauma and neoplasms. Other causes of amputations are frostbite, infection and congenital limb defects [5]. For the patient, knowledge of their health condition or disease’s cause and prevalence plays an important role in improving quality of life. In Iran, accurate statistics are not available for some diseases, which are not tracked by the health authorities. The number and causes of amputation is one such situation, and patients who undergo amputations in Iran do not receive adequate information about the prevalence of their condition. In this work, we studied the epidemiology of amputees in Kerman, a large city in Iran, over an 8-year period. We hoped to contribute to remedying the information vacuum for amputation patients in Iran. A. A. Mousavi Á A. R. Saied (&) Á E. Heidari Orthopedics Department, Kerman Neuroscience Research Center, Dr Bahonar Hospital, School of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran e-mail: arsaiedmd@yahoo.com; arsaied@kmu.ac.ir 123 Arch Orthop Trauma Surg (2012) 132:1555–1559 DOI 10.1007/s00402-012-1587-3