Shrinkage of the below‐knee stump in leprosy

The long‐term progress of below‐knee stumps was studied in 65 leprotic amputees. Thirty‐seven patients underwent amputation with a long posterior flap (LP) and 28 patients with an equal anterior and posterior flap (EF) technique. Mean follow‐up was for 6 and 7 years respectively. Shrinkage of the soft tissue and retraction of the posterior calf muscles caused the posterior skin flap of the stump to rotate posteriorly in all cases, with a mean 26° of rotation in LP stumps and 42° of rotation in EF stumps. The LP stumps remained thicker, with soft tissue padding at the bony ends, and had fewer stump complications than the EF stumps.