Surgical Technique for Targeted Muscle Reinnervation in Knee Disarticulation Amputation for Nonambulatory Patients

Chronic neuropathic pain following major limb amputation has historically been difficult to treat. In patients undergoing lower extremity amputation, “preemptive” targeted muscle reinnervation (TMR) nerve transfers may be performed concurrently with the amputation to help mitigate the risk of chronic neuropathic postoperative pain. Despite clinical studies demonstrating efficacy of TMR in lower extremity amputations, few procedural descriptions have been written, and none have been written regarding performing TMR at the knee disarticulation (KD) level of amputation. Although uncommonly utilized, the KD amputation has clear functional benefits over other levels of amputation for nonambulatory patients. As nonambulatory patients are also subject to the occurrence of chronic neuropathic postamputation pain, it stands to reason that the addition of TMR to KD surgery could be an improvement to standard techniques. In this report, we provide a technical description for concurrent TMR with KD and describe the rationale for its use.