Pain Reduced With Target Muscle Reinnervation at Time of Amputation

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 10, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- For patients undergoing amputation, targeted muscle reinnervation (TMR) at the time of amputation improves pain scores and reduces the rate of neuroma formation, according to a study published in the January issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

Evelyn G. Goodyear, from Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional retrospective chart review involving patients undergoing TMR between 2015 and 2020 to examine symptomatic neuroma recurrence and neuropathic pain outcomes between cohorts undergoing TMR at the time of amputation (acute) versus TMR following symptomatic neuroma formation (delayed). One hundred five limbs were identified from 103 patients, including 73 and 32 acute and delayed TMR limbs, respectively.

The researchers found that 19 and 1 percent of the delayed and acute TMR groups had symptomatic neuromas recur in the distribution of original TMR, respectively. Overall, 85 percent of patients in the acute TMR group and 69 percent of patients in the delayed TMR group completed pain surveys. Of this subgroup, significantly lower phantom limb pain Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS) pain interference, residual limb pain (RLP) PROMIS pain intensity, and RLP PROMIS pain interference scores were reported by acute TMR patients versus delayed TMR patients.

"These results highlight the promising role of TMR in the prevention of neuropathic pain and neuroma formation when performed at the time of amputation," the authors write.

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