TY - JOUR TI - Lower limb stump fistula treated with laser ablation. A possible alternative minimal invasive technique AU - Filippou, D.K. AU - Angelis, S. AU - Apostolopoulos, A.P. AU - Vynichakis, G. AU - Salmas, M. AU - Vlassis, K. JO - Journal of Long-Term Effects of Medical Implants PY - 2019 VL - 29 TODO - 3 SP - 205-207 PB - Begell House, Inc SN - 1050-6934 TODO - 10.1615/JLongTermEffMedImplants.2020033148 TODO - Antibiotics; Artificial limbs; Surgery, Antibiotic treatment; Local anesthesia; Lower-limb amputations; Minimal invasive; Novel techniques; Surgical interventions; Vascular disease; Wound infections, Laser ablation, antibiotic agent, adult; aged; antibiotic therapy; Article; case report; chronic kidney failure; clinical article; debridement; diabetes mellitus; fistula; fistulectomy; follow up; gangrene; heart failure; human; laser coagulation; laser surgery; limb amputation; local anesthesia; lower limb; male; minimally invasive procedure; mobilization; morbidity; peripheral angiopathy; phantom pain; stump fistula; vascular disease; wound healing; wound infection; young adult; amputation stump; diode laser; drug therapy; low level laser therapy; minimally invasive surgery; procedures; recurrent disease; reoperation; skin fistula, Aged; Amputation Stumps; Cutaneous Fistula; Humans; Laser Therapy; Lasers, Semiconductor; Lower Extremity; Male; Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures; Recurrence; Reoperation; Young Adult TODO - Stump-wound infections are a common cause of complications after amputation. Wound infections, usually after major lower-limb amputation, vascular disease, or trauma, may lead to fistula formation. The main therapeutic options for these infections include antibiotic administration alone or antibiotic treatment in combination with surgery. Fistula management may require multiple surgical interventions that increase morbidity and cost and require long-term treatment prohibiting early mobilization of patients. We present a novel technique based on diode laser energy to destroy the fistula tract. This method has been applied on two patients with excellent results. It is easy to perform, safe, repetitive, well tolerated, and it can be performed under local anesthesia. This technique seems to offer excellent results. © 2019 by Begell House, Inc. www.begellhouse.com. ER -