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In This Issue:
Matthew Carty
Matthew Carty, MD
What is your research project about?
Our research project is about improving the ability of patients with lower limb amputations to achieve normal function. Despite remarkable advances in the technology underlying modern-day prosthetics, little has changed in the way we perform lower extremity amputations for patients whose legs cannot be saved.
We propose a new surgical approach to lower limb amputation that we believe will enable patients to link with next-generation prostheses to restore fine movement, sensation and proprioception-one's sense of his or her body and its position and movement in space. In essence, we seek to help patients recover normal limb function. Through a collaborative venture including plastic surgeons, orthopedic surgeons, vascular surgeons from BWH and leading-edge biomechatronics experts from MIT, we envision the development of a new operative technique for limb amputation, which, we believe, will become the new standard of care.
What is a unique aspect of your research project?
Our project involves a fundamental redefinition of the way in which lower extremity amputations are performed. By incorporating techniques developed in complex reconstructive surgery, our novel procedure converts the traditional passive lower limb stump into an active appendage. This advance is accomplished by building innervated muscle and skin segments into the amputation site that are directly controlled by the central nervous system and serve as relay points for the exchange of motor and sensory information between the patient and his or her prosthetic limb. This represents a profound advance in the operative approach to lower limb amputation, offering amputees the promise of controlling next-generation prostheses in a way that is far more natural and dynamic than has ever been described previously.
How will your research project benefit future patients who suffer from trauma-related injuries?
Our project holds the promise of enabling lower limb amputees to achieve a level of function previously thought to be impossible. If successful, it may enable such patients to not only feel things normally with their prosthetic limb and have a sense of their limb in space, but also recover the ability to perform complex motions such as dancing and balancing. Furthermore, such an approach could also be applied to upper limb amputees to achieve profound advances in prosthetic hand function-perhaps enabling hand amputees to feel fine textures and play the piano, for example. Lastly, this operative approach will enhance the ability of amputees to achieve greater function should they elect to proceed with limb transplantation by improving the ability of such limbs to achieve more rapid nerve recovery.
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