Hemicorporectomy is a radical last-resort surgery that amputates the body below the waist, cutting through the lumbar spine and removing the legs, the pelvic bones, the genitals, and the bladder, anus, and rectum. Surgeons perform it only when cancer has spread uncontrollably through the spinal cord and pelvis, when severe pelvic trauma such as an open-book fracture cannot be repaired, or when an infection or ulceration in the pelvic region threatens to cause fatal sepsis and no less drastic treatment can control it. The operation is exceptionally rare, with only 79 cases recorded in medical literature as of 2025, and is reserved for patients who face death from their underlying condition without it.
Facts
Hemicorporectomy
Filter Results1 entry
Connections
Treats
Source Hemicorporectomy (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Wikipedia
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia Foundationhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemicorporectomy, lead sectionQuote, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemicorporectomy, lead section
Hemicorporectomy is a radical surgery in which the body below the waist is amputated, transecting the lumbar spine.
2. Hemicorporectomy (Wikipedia)
History section
Kredel first proposed the operation in February 1951 while discussing a paper on pelvic exenteration.
Treats: Osteomyelitis, Lead: treats Osteomyelitis
It is a major procedure recommended only as a last resort for people with severe and potentially fatal illnesses such as osteomyelitis, tumors, severe traumas and intractable decubiti in, or around, the pelvis.
View the SourceReader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
Choose a year to see this entry's facts and connections as the atlas records them at that moment: what it held then, what it held instead, and what it had not yet adopted. Choose Present for the current record.