
Krukenberg procedure - koolba
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krukenberg_procedure
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griffinheart
This seems great, so why does the article state:

> It remains in use today for certain special cases but is considered
> controversial and some surgeons refuse to perform it.

I imagine there's a reason, but I hope its not "doesn't look good"

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kadoban
That does indeed seem to be the reason. As the article states it: "[T]he
Krukenberg procedure's poor cosmesis makes it very rare [...]"

I'm sure self-image is a complicated consideration when someone is dealing
with an amputation, I can't imagine trying to assess what the right choice for
another person would be in that kind of situation. But surgeons straight out
refusing to perform it seems extreme, based on the limited information
provided in the article.

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pjlegato
Making that assessment is a part of the surgeon's job.

Perhaps they realized at some point that many patients are enthusiastic for
the procedure before it's done, but most grow to hate it afterwards -- and
blame the surgeon for having done the procedure to them.

Any given patient will have had zero prior experience with complex
physiological and psychological post-operative outcomes, whereas surgeons do
(individually or collectively.) It seems fitting that they should share that,
and discourage patients from having procedures if outcomes are mainly bad.

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barry0079
Burkhard Heim, linked to at the bottom seems like a very interesting fellow.

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UncleSlacky
His theories are still being researched, even though they are outside the
mainstream:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heim_theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heim_theory)
[http://heim-theory.com/](http://heim-theory.com/) [http://www.hpcc-
space.de/publications/documents/ExtendedHeim...](http://www.hpcc-
space.de/publications/documents/ExtendedHeimTheory.pdf)

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wasd884
I wonder if you could use this surgery combined with a specialised prosthetic
arm to create movable yet simple replacement hands.

Imagine a prosthetic arm with a hollow body and a hand that can open and close
in a simple fashion. Run a hydraulic pipe from the artificial hand up to the
pincer and secure the presses/cylinders at both ends.

When the amputee closes their pincer inside the artificial arm the prosthetic
hand would then close. Differing amounts of pressure would allow the amputee
to exert different amounts of pressure to grip, pick up and move objects.

Also, there would be no electronics to go wrong. Hydraulics are very stable,
cheap and reliable technology!

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aequitas
Googling for "Krukenberg hands" gives an better image of what this procedure
does. Basically it turns the forearm bones into two very long stiff fingers.

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dtf
Bit of a flippant tone, but I found this video that shows a man who had the
procedure after bilateral amputation following an accident with dynamite. He
sounds pretty satisfied with it.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8yMNuNgxyo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8yMNuNgxyo)

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helb
There's also this video linked in the Wikipedia article, showing a man
performing some common tasks –
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_ChitAgshk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_ChitAgshk)

