Depression in Amputation Patients

Amputation alters the quality of life with an undeniable negative somatic and functional impact. The patient’s general mobility is impaired and there is an increase in metabolic needs as well as pain and discomfort. Etiologies are quite diverse: essentially vascular pathologies (74%) for the lower limbs and trauma related (61%) for the upper limbs. Thus, an important number of patients have to face amputation-related consequences. Pain (stump, phantom limb, back pain) is frequently described in 65 to 75% of patients after an amputation as well as the common onset of major depressive disorders for 35% of them. With the incidence of depression after limb amputation increasing in the patients, we sought to summarize the management of depression in amputation patients.