The number of patients with foot gangrene caused by critical ischaemia and severe infection is increasing significantly in developed countries. The measurement of perilesional skin blood flow by skin perfusion pressure (SPP) is useful to select the appropriate treatment of gangrenous lesions, in that it is not affected by calcifications of blood vessels. However, the prognosis of a foot ulcer may also be affected by the level of blood sugar and infections. This study aimed to validate the use of SPP in cases of foot gangrene and ulcers in patients with and without diabetes mellitus (DM) and infection … read more
Tag: foot ulcer
Diabetes doubles risk for hospital-acquired foot ulcers
Patients with diabetes have at least double the risk for developing hospital-acquired foot ulcers vs. those without diabetes, according to a study published in BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care.
In a prospective, multilevel regression analysis, Frances Wensley, PhD, MBBS,formerly of the Royal Free Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in London, and colleagues analyzed data from 18,946 patients with 28,642 admissions of at least 2 days to the Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust between October 2008 and September 2010, including 3,076 individuals with diabetes with 5,043 admissions. Patients included in the analysis were aged at least 50 years and developed a hospital-acquired foot ulcer at least 48 hours after hospital admission. For all admissions, the analyses included data on diabetes, heel ulcer, length of stay and other covariates. The researchers compared patients with vs. without diabetes … read more