부산대학교 도서관

OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that distal residual limbs (DRLs) have significant vasomotor abnormalities. DESIGN: Comparative surface temperature studies of DRLs using paired samples (DRL vs. similar site on intact contralateral limb). SUBJECTS/PATIENTS: Thirty-six volunteer subjects with unilateral, upper or lower limb amputations were recruited and evaluated at a pain research center in an urban academic rehabilitation facility. METHODS: Our main outcomes were subjects' residual limb temperature as measured by quantitative infrared telethermography (qIRT), temperature strips, and examiner's palpation, compared with the contralateral limb. RESULTS: The qIRT showed that the DRLs were significantly cooler than the corresponding area of the contralateral intact limbs (P < 0.01). The difference using temperature strips supported this finding (P < 0.05); while on physical examination, 39% of the residual limbs were perceived by the examiner as cooler than the corresponding unaffected limbs. CONCLUSIONS: DRLs as measured by qIRT were significantly cooler than the corresponding area of the contralateral intact limbs. A better understanding of these findings may be important in elucidating the pathophysiology of relevant clinical features such as a potential sympathetic component of postamputation pain.