The United States Armed Forces Amputee Patient Care Program.

Abstract

United States military amputees are treated at either Walter Reed Army Medical Center (Washington, DC) or Brooke Army Medical Center (Fort Sam Houston, TX). At each center, a multidisciplinary team from more than a dozen specialties works together to address the psychological, social, vocational, and spiritual needs of our soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen, as well as their physical rehabilitation. Excellent outcomes are being achieved with the current practices of the Armed Forces Amputee Care Program, but a great deal of evidence-based research must be done to determine the optimal time to close the wound, the etiology of heterotopic ossification in blast injury, the factors determining optimal socket design, and the best sequence and timing for introduction of different prosthetic technologies in the rehabilitation process.