Trauma-related amputations among children in Ghana

Amputation operations are rare in children and are often performed in emergencies as lifesaving procedures or in elective cases resulting from congenital limb deficiencies. This study aimed to retrospectively examine the pattern of trauma-related amputations among children in Ghana.

Hospital records of the children aged 16 years and younger who underwent trauma-related amputations during May 2015-September 2018 were assessed retrospectively. The data were analyzed using the SPSS software version 24 (IBM, Chicago, USA). Descriptive statistics were used to report the means and frequencies.

A total of 34 children had amputation surgeries during the study period. Our findings showed that 5.9% (n=2) of the subjects were female and 94.1% (n=32) were male. Falls as the leading cause accounted for 50% (n=17) of the injuries, followed by personal or interpersonal violence 23.5% (n=8), road traffic accidents 14.7% (n=5), machinery 5.9% (n=2), and birth injuries mainly related to the accidents during child delivery 5.9% (n=2). At the onset of injury, 61.8% (n=21) of the children were taken to hospitals as the first point of call, while 38.2% of the cases (n=13) first referred to bonesetters. According to the records, upper limb amputation 70.6% (n=24) was more frequent than lower limb 29.4% (n=10).

A record of thirty-four trauma-related amputations among children over a period of 3.5 years in a single treatment center is remarkable. The living environment of children could predispose them to catastrophic incidents leading to amputations. Therefore, strategies for injury prevention should be developed taking into consideration the contextual factors.