Amputations News and Research

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Botulinum toxin injections could be a powerful tool for treating post-amputation pain

Botulinum toxin injections provided greater short-term relief for phantom limb pain than standard medical and surgical care among Ukrainian war amputees, reports a new study led by Northwestern Medicine and Ukrainian physicians.

21 Oct 2025

New combination drug therapy offers hope for treating chronic wound infections

University of Oregon researchers have tested a new combination drug therapy that could dismantle the difficult-to-treat bacteria inhabiting chronic wound infections.

29 Sep 2025

Tai chi improves memory and sleep in older adults with type 2 diabetes

A 12-week randomized trial found that remotely delivered Tai Chi significantly enhanced cognitive performance and sleep quality in older adults with Type 2 Diabetes. These gains surpassed those from supervised fitness walking or usual care, without increasing adverse events.

17 Sep 2025

Single antibody causes a rare but dangerous reaction to widely-used blood thinner

Researchers at McMaster University have discovered that a rare but dangerous reaction to a widely used blood thinner is caused by a single antibody – overturning decades of medical misunderstanding and opening the door to more precise ways of diagnosing and treating this medical complication.

3 Sep 2025

How raspberry leaf tea reduces insulin surges from table sugar

Trial shows that raspberry leaf tea blunts sucrose-induced glucose and insulin surges, offering a natural strategy for moderating blood sugar without the side effects of pharmaceutical enzyme inhibitors.

2 Sep 2025

Drug-coated devices not associated with improved outcomes in patients with peripheral artery disease

Drug-coated stents and balloons were not associated with reduced risk of amputation or improved quality of life compared with uncoated devices in two trials in peripheral artery disease (PAD), according to late-breaking research presented in a Hot Line session today at ESC Congress 2025.

1 Sep 2025

Toe transfer surgery outperforms replantation in hand function recovery

For patients with amputations affecting the hand, toe transfer surgery provides an alternative to replanting the amputated digits and may lead to greater improvement in hand function and other key outcomes, reports a study in the August issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

7 Aug 2025

Improving early detection of peripheral artery disease with a new diagnostic method

An alternative diagnostic method could improve early detection and treatment of peripheral artery disease (PAD), according to a new study from the University of Surrey.

10 Jul 2025

AI reveals hidden bias behind higher amputation rates in minority and rural patients

Why do rural adults and racial and ethnic minorities with vascular disease get major leg amputations more often? A new study out today in Epidemiology uses AI to solve the mystery, finding an unaccounted-for factor that researchers think points to implicit bias in the clinical decision-making process.

10 Jul 2025

Novel method to improve the biocompatibility and chronic stability of neural electrode implants

An international research team, including scientists from the Institut de Neurociències at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), has developed a new solution to reduce the immune response triggered by neural prosthetics used after limb amputations or severe nerve injuries.

30 Jun 2025

What matters more for diabetes risk: lifestyle or body weight?

A large, multi-ethnic US cohort study found that combining healthy lifestyle factors—non-smoking, regular physical activity, a healthy diet, and moderate alcohol consumption into a Lifestyle Risk Factor Index (LSRI) was linked to a significantly lower risk of type 2 diabetes. However, BMI was a stronger predictor of diabetes risk, and the impact of lifestyle varied across ethnic groups.

18 Jun 2025

Peripheral arterial disease leads to more leg amputations in deprived communities

Leg amputation rates caused by arterial disease are four times as high in the most disadvantaged areas in England.

12 Jun 2025

Blocking a single enzyme rewires limb regrowth in axolotls

Researchers uncovered how CYP26B1-mediated retinoic acid (RA) breakdown determines segment identity during axolotl limb regeneration. Disrupting RA degradation reprograms blastema cells, revealing the molecular controls of precise limb regrowth.

11 Jun 2025

Study identifies diagnostic aid to accurately predict the recurrence of diabetic foot ulcers

NIH-funded project shows that trans-epidermal water loss could indicate if wounds are fully healed.

30 May 2025

Microneedles accelerate diabetic wound healing in preclinical models

Diabetic wounds often lead to severe complications that can result in amputations. These chronic and non-healing wounds are marked by persistent inflammation, affecting more than six per cent of the global population.

26 Mar 2025

Limiting TV time may reduce heart disease risk for people with genetic risk for diabetes

Watching no more than one hour of TV a day may lower the risk of heart attack, stroke and other blood vessel diseases among people with varying levels of genetic risk for Type 2 diabetes, including high genetic risk, according to new research published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open access, peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association.

12 Mar 2025

Gender gaps in peripheral vascular disease impact diagnosis and treatment

The disparities between men and women in prevalence, risk factors and symptoms of peripheral vascular disease (PVD) have a profound impact on prevention, diagnosis, treatment and outcomes for women, according to a new American Heart Association scientific statement published today in the Association's flagship, peer-reviewed journal Circulation.

11 Mar 2025

Vimseltinib gains FDA approval for treating tenosynovial giant cell tumor

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved vimseltinib (RomvimzaTM) for adult patients with a rare condition called tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TGCT). TGCT is a tumor of the tissue that lines the joints.

20 Feb 2025

Hydrodissection may offer hope for post-amputation pain relief

A reliable method to treat post-amputation pain remains elusive, but a new Northwestern Medicine study conducted in collaboration with Ukrainian physicians suggests that hydrodissection - a simple procedure that injects fluid around nerves - may reduce residual limb pain and opioid dependence.

19 Feb 2025

Over-dilation of microvasculature may contribute to chronic limb-threatening ischemia

Persistent over-dilation of muscle microvasculature may be one reason causing chronic limb-threatening ischemia, recent studies by Kuopio University Hospital and the University of Eastern Finland show.

20 Jan 2025