Amputation involves the removal of an extremity of the body, usually the leg, foot, toe, arm, hand, or finger. The removal may occur through surgery, trauma, prolonged constriction, or by the individual (self-amputation). Amputation may arise from diabetes-related complications, a traumatic injury (e.g., a vehicular accident), or other disease-related developments, (e.g., peripheral vascular disease, or PVD, which is the hardening of the arteries, and cancerous tumors). A number of amputations may also be congenital, meaning the limb loss is present at birth. There are approximately 2 million persons in the United States (about one in every 200 persons) with some form of limb loss. In fact, about 185,000 amputations take place annually at high financial and often high emotional costs to each individual.

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