Krukenberg Procedure - Advantages

Advantages

The procedure is, in this time and age, mostly performed on patients in developing countries who lack the means to obtain expensive prostheses. In the Western world, the Krukenberg procedure is usually reserved for blind patients with bilateral amputations, because it can provide the patient with tactile sensation.

While the Krukenberg procedure's poor cosmesis makes it very rare, it does preserve proprioception and stereognosis in the functional stump and so allows for effective maneuvering. Once this procedure is performed, it does not preclude the use of a functional prosthesis giving the patient the option to use either functional strategy.

While the operation is rarely performed in the modern age, patients can prefer it to sophisticated prosthetics, as in one case study of a Dutch woman, reported in 2002.

Initially after traumatic bilateral forearm amputation was provided with mechanical prostheses. Eventually she stopped using them because she chose to use her bare stumps as pincers. She explained that being able to feel helped her a lot in her tasks... an excellent functional result was obtained, from both the surgical and the rehabilitation point of view. The patient lives with her family, takes care of the household, and does art and crafts, which she is currently selling, and is very happy with the procedure. A year and a half has gone by and she is still gaining dexterity and strength. The patient in question also requested the procedure be completed on her other arm.