Editing Amputation (section)

{{Short description|Medical procedure that removes a part of the body}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox medical condition
| name            = Amputation
| image           = Flickr_-_The_U.S._Army_-_U.S._Army_World_Class_Athlete_Program_Paralympic.jpg
| caption         = An amputee running with a blade prosthetic
| pronounce       =
| field           = [[Surgery]]
[[Physical medicine and rehabilitation]]
[[Emergency medicine]]
| symptoms        =
| complications   = [[Phantom limb syndrome]]
| onset           =
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| causes          = [[Major trauma|Trauma]] or intentional as part of [[surgery]] and sometimes [[corporal punishment]].
| risks           =
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{{corporal punishment}}
{{Criminal procedure (trial)}}

'''Amputation''' is the removal of a [[Limb (anatomy)|limb]] or other body part by [[Physical trauma|trauma]], [[medical illness]], or [[surgery]]. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as [[cancer|malignancy]] or [[gangrene]]. In some cases, it is carried out on individuals as a [[Preventive healthcare|preventive surgery]] for such problems. A special case is that of [[congenital amputation]], a [[congenital disorder]], where [[fetus|fetal]] limbs have been cut off by constrictive bands. In some countries, judicial amputation is currently used [[punishment|to punish]] people who commit crimes.<ref name="iran">{{Cite news |last=Fathi |first=Nazila |date=2008-01-11 |title=Spate of Executions and Amputations in Iran |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/11/world/middleeast/11iran.html |url-access=limited |access-date=2021-06-27}}</ref><ref name="Chuback 2005">{{Cite conference |last=Chuback |first=Jennifer E. |date=March 2005 |editor-last=Whitelaw |editor-first=W. A. |title=The history of rhinoplasty |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/16854023 |conference=14th Annual History of Medicine Days |publisher=[[University of Calgary]] |publication-place=Calgary, Alberta, Canada |pages=10–15 |via=[[ResearchGate]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kocharkarn|first=Wachira | name-list-style = vanc |date=Summer 2000|title=Traumatic amputation of the penis|url=http://brazjurol.com.br/pdf/kochakarn_385_389.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://brazjurol.com.br/pdf/kochakarn_385_389.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|journal=Brazilian Journal of Urology|volume=26|pages=385–389|via=Official Journal of the Brazilian Society of Urology}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Im95I7FjrvwC&q=amputation+punishment&pg=PR7|title=Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: Theory and Practice from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century|last=Peters|first=Rudolph| name-list-style = vanc |date=2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521792264 }}</ref> Amputation has also been used as a tactic in war and acts of terrorism; it may also occur as a war injury. In some cultures and religions, minor amputations or [[mutilation]]s are considered a ritual accomplishment.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Bosmia AN, Griessenauer CJ, Tubbs RS | title = Yubitsume: ritualistic self-amputation of proximal digits among the Yakuza | journal = Journal of Injury and Violence Research | volume = 6 | issue = 2 | pages = 54–56 | date = July 2014 | pmid = 24284812 | pmc = 4009169 | doi = 10.5249/jivr.v6i2.489 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Kepe T | title = 'Secrets' that kill: crisis, custodianship and responsibility in ritual male circumcision in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa | journal = Social Science & Medicine | volume = 70 | issue = 5 | pages = 729–735 | date = March 2010 | pmid = 20053494 | doi = 10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.11.016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Grisaru N, Lezer S, Belmaker RH | title = Ritual female genital surgery among Ethiopian Jews | journal = Archives of Sexual Behavior | volume = 26 | issue = 2 | pages = 211–215 | date = April 1997 | pmid = 9101034 | doi = 10.1023/a:1024562512475 | s2cid = 32053425 }}</ref> When done by a person, the person executing the amputation is an amputator.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Amputator |encyclopedia=[[Merriam-Webster]] |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/amputator |access-date=28 June 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Amputee |encyclopedia=[[Merriam-Webster]] |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/amputee |access-date=28 June 2021}}</ref> The oldest evidence of this practice comes from a skeleton found buried in Liang Tebo cave, [[East Kalimantan]], Indonesian [[Borneo]] dating back to at least 31,000 years ago, where it was done when the amputee was a young child.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Maloney|first1=T.R.|last2=Dilkes-Hall|first2=I.E.|last3=Vlok|first3=M|title=Surgical amputation of a limb 31,000 years ago in Borneo|journal=Nature|issue=7927|pages=547–551|year=2022|volume=609 |doi=10.1038/s41586-022-05160-8|pmid=36071168 |pmc=9477728 |bibcode=2022Natur.609..547M }}</ref> A [[prosthesis]] or a [[Bioelectronics|bioelectric replantation]] restores sensation of the amputated limb.