Director, Lower Extremity Transplant Program
Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
Recovering Limb Function: A New Surgical Approach for the 21st Century
Despite remarkable advances in the technology underlying modern-day prosthetics, little has changed in terms of the way we perform lower extremity amputations for patients whose legs cannot be salvaged. We propose a new surgical approach to lower limb amputation that we believe will enable patients to interface with next-generation prostheses to restore fine movement, sensation, and proprioception—in essence, to recover normal limb function. Through a collaborative venture including plastic surgeons, orthopedic surgeons, vascular surgeons from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and cutting-edge biomechatronics experts from MIT, we envision the development of a new operative technique for limb amputation, which, we believe, will become the new standard of care.
Matthew J. Carty, MD, is a staff surgeon in the BWH Division of Plastic Surgery and an assistant professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School (HMS). He earned his bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from Harvard College, and attended medical school at the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons. He completed his surgical training in the Harvard Combined Plastic Surgery Residency Program, followed by an additional year of fellowship in hand and microvascular surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He joined the BWH faculty in 2009, and has since had a clinical focus in complex reconstructive surgery of the trunk and extremities. Carty is co-director of the BWH Microsurgical Breast Reconstruction Program and director of the BWH Lower Extremity Transplant Program. His research interests are focused primarily on limb restoration, both through transplantation and complex reconstruction.
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Reinventing Amputations: A Conversation with Matt Carty