RAFT has always prided itself on carrying out research that that will improve the lives of patients and meets real clinical need

Thanks to the close links with plastic surgeons in the UK and the kind willingness of patients to speak to us, we are able to identify the current problems that patients face and try to find solutions that are both effective and practical.

All of us have heard of injured soldiers returning from active service having had limbs amputated after being wounded.  The courage of men like severely wounded Royal Marines Ben McBean and Mark Ormrod have touched and inspired many, including us at RAFT.  With them in mind, and the many others who have sustained similar injuries, RAFT has started a new project which we hope will improve the lives of all those men and women who have lost limbs.

Why does something need to be done?

When a limb (e.g. an arm) is amputated, the simplest form of reconstruction is an artificial (prosthetic) limb. 

The prosthesis is usually attached to the body using a socket, straps and harness.  However, it is very difficult to secure prosthesis in this way, and most patients experience additional problems including; chaffing, ulcers and pain - both in the socket and under the straps. 

In arms, wrist rotation is also a problem. 

As a result, actual use of the prosthesis is poor and up to 80% of patients stop using their prosthesis within 2 years of issue. 

Existing designs of prosthetic limbs are controlled using a cable and harness system or myoelectric electrodes.  Myoelectric electrodes are wires which can be stuck onto the skin surface of the amputation stump.  These detect electrical signals in the remaining muscles of the amputation stump which can then be used to control electric motors in the prosthesis. 

Unfortunately, skin surface electrodes are unreliable (may fall off or move) and non-intuitive.  For example, with existing designs, an amputee wanting to make his/her hand open and close on a myoelectric prosthesis, must actually think "bend or straighten elbow" to make this happen.  It would be much more useful to have a system in which the patient thinks "hand open or close" and have this translated directly into the same movement in the prosthetic limb.

Who will this project help?

• Each year there are an estimated 300 new traumatic upper limb amputations in the UK.
• There are also an estimated 100 lower limb amputations per week in the UK due to disease.

• Globally there are also many tens of thousands of civilian victims of conflicts, accidents and disease who have also lost an upper limb.

What does RAFT intend to do to solve the problem?

There are 2 ways in which RAFT will work to provide a better artificial limb:

1. Direct attachment of the prosthesis to the bone in the amputation stump avoids the problems associated with straps and harnesses. RAFT will be using an innovative implant which will allow a prosthesis to be attached directly to the human skeleton.

2. RAFT will investigate the use of electrodes placed directly in or on the surface of muscles in the limb. We want to find a way of passing the wires from the electrodes through the special implant secured to the skeleton which will act as a conduit between the inside and the outside of the body allowing the wires to come through the skin without fear of infection or breakage.

If RAFT succeeds, what difference will it make?

We hope that, if successful, our research will allow a prosthetic limb:

• to work in a more intuitive way i.e. like a human limb
• be more comfortable to wear

• be easier to put on and take off

Progress so far

• RAFT has already identified a potential commercial partner - a key factor in getting the research, on completion, to patients in the quickest possible time.

What else do we need?

RAFT is neither Government funded nor a part of the public sector.  As an independent charity, we depend on the donations of supporters to enable us to carry out research.  Without your support, this project cannot go ahead.

We need to raise £225,000 to carry out this project.  Please help us by making a donation or contacting us on 01923 835815 or charity@raft.ac.uk

The Team

The team who will work on this project have been identified and have already started.  RAFT Surgical Research Fellow - Yazan Al Ajam - is working as part of a research group at UCL on implantable prostheses.

Professor Gordon Blunn is Director of the Institute of Orthopaedics and Musculoskeletal Sciences at UCL and is internationally renowned for his work in the field of implant-human tissue interface.

Dr Catherine Pendegrass is a lecturer in the Department for Biomedical Engineering at UCL.

Dr Steve Taylor is a lecturer in the Department for Biomedical Engineering at UCL with expertise on the telemetry of forces within a prosthesis implanted in the body.

Mr Nobert Kang is a Consultant Plastic Surgeon at the Royal Free Hospital and was a RAFT Surgical Research Fellow.  He has a special interest in the reconstruction of upper limbs using prosthetic devices. Mr Kang helped develop the special implant that we will be using.

The Douglas Bader Foundation

Given that this project could, potentially, benefit so many of our brave service men and women, we are delighted that The Douglas Bader Foundation has agreed to be a charity partner in this project.