Tag: Total Contact Casting

Take A Load Off: Offloading Tips And Pearls In Wound Care

Diabetic foot ulcerations (DFUs) affect approximately 26 million people worldwide, with a staggering 2.5 times increased risk of death at five years.1-3 While many etiologies and conditions contribute to a wound, offloading is crucial to solving the wound healing puzzle.

In some literature, offloading is the most important aspect of DFU treatment in patients with neuropathy.4-6 The thought behind offloading is relief of mechanical and abnormal stresses that the foot experiences from a loss of protective sensation. This combination results in tissue damage, thought to lead to many DFUs.1,4,7 Specifically, mechanical stress is due to increased plantar pressure and shearing forces during the gait cycle, causing repetitive microtrauma … read more

Point-Counterpoint: Is Total Contact Casting Better Than

     The CAM Walker Boot For Plantar Diabetic Wounds?

 

This author says total contact casts offer key biomechanical benefits, have extensive literature support and facilitate quicker healing of plantar diabetic foot ulcers … Offloading is one of the central concepts to healing the diabetic foot ulcer.1,2It is usually pressure (combined with neuropathy) that leads to an ulcer. Therefore, we must relieve the pressure in order to achieve wound healing … read more

The use of casting techniques in foot ulcer treatment: a literature review

Total contact casts (TCCs) continue to be considered as the gold standard offloading option for the treatment of neuropathic diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs). Although evidence in the literature continue to prove the efficacy of TCCs as the optimum option for offloading and expediting the healing process of ulcers, in reality they are very minimally used. This was evidenced in both Europe and the United States with a very low percentage of cast utilisation (Prompers et al., 2008 and Wu et al., 2008). As a result, several cast modalities have been developed in order to facilitate the use of this intervention for the treatment DFUs. Therefore, the aims of this critical review were to explore the literature regarding efficacy the different casting modalities alongside TCCs … read more

The industry’s BEST TCC Kit is Now Available on Amazon. M-Med provides the most versatile total contact cast on the market with the TCC-Mobility Series. 60% more padding for patient comfort and safety. Click here for more information on TCC-Mobility Series.

 

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Sample Request Form

Dr. Michael Miller

As an advanced wound care specialist for almost 20 years full time, I am a relentless devotee of best practices and the wound care literature. While there are many wound care practices that allow some personal latitude, there are one or two “definites”. The literature has recently become very vociferous in the use of Total Contact Casting as the “Gold Standard” for offloading plantar based Diabetic Neuropathic Foot ulcers. As a non-hospital affiliated wound care specialist, I have no deep pocket entity to support me as I trial device after device searching for ease of use, facilitated patient compliance, and more, best pricing.

 

I found your devices in a search for an equally efficacious TCC that had better pricing than the many on the market. Since no two patients are alike, the many components in your kit allowed me to configure the final product, controlling the height, thickness, weight and even the configuration/position of the walking gasket. More, the pricing for needed large orders made this a less painful expenditure for me. Of course, the rapid shipping came in handy when my staff opened a closet door to discover two casts and four patients on the schedule in 48 hours.

 

I wanted to take the time to let you know how much I appreciate the products you have available for those of us who strive to provide best care using the best products, at what I have found to be best service and pricing.

 

Respectfully yours

 

Michael S. Miller DO, FACOS, WCC
CEO and Medical Director – The Miller Care Group
Indianapolis, IN

Under the Off-Load: A Pilot Case Series to Identify Ideal Dressings

     to use under Total Contact Casts (TCC)

 

Introduction: It is well stated in the literature that Total Contact Casting (TCC) is a standard of care for off-loading of neuropathic ulcers of the plantar surface. Another standard of care is to provide a moist wound healing environment. Evidence to support appropriate wound dressings under TCC is currently unavailable despite recognition that the wound environment and thus the amount of drainage changes as the wound progresses towards healing. This pilot case series of three patients with plantar based diabetic neuropathic ulcers uses two dressings, a five layer silicone foam with absorbent polymer and moisture retentive backing dressing (SF)* for low to moderate drainage and a non-adherent super-absorbent (SAP)† polymer dressing for moderate to high exudate levels.

 

Clinical Problem: May TCC kits include a generic, open-cell, polyurethane foam dressing (OCF). These dressings do not absorb or retain fluid in a moderate to high exudate environment which can lead to maceration and non-healing. Furthermore, due to the high moisture vapor transmission rate of OCF, wounds with low exudate may experience desiccation and result in the development of slough and biofilm … read more

Total Contact Cast Offloading Real Treatment For All Plantar Based Wounds

 

Patient is a 49 year old male with a history of Charcot Marie Tooth Disease (CMT) who presented with a a plantar ulcer of the Left Foot. CMT is an inherited neuropathy which directly damage nerves fibers resulting in both sensory and motor neuropathy causing significant foot deformities. His medical history included an unknown type of reconstructive surgery to the left foot in 2007 for his CMT. The presenting plantar ulcer had been there for 7 months and treated continuously by a local podiatrist with Iodine dressings only. The patient had never been prescribed any offloading devices and presented wearing canvas sneakers. Our Initial treatment consisted of aggressive debridement of the ulcer to 100% bleeding surfaces including all skin margins. Hemostasis was achieved rapidly using Scion CLO-SURPLUS PADTM Chitosan Hemostatic dressing. M-Med’s Mobility Series Total Contact Cast Kit was used to allow for modification for his unusual foot configuration. He underwent total contact casting weekly with complete healing in 5 weeks. The multi-component TTC system allowed for modifications by adding, subtracting or modifying components for the desired fit needed at that time. He was placed in a custom molded shoe with inserts and has had no recurrence to date … read more

Treating Hard-to-Heal Wounds

An Evidence-Based Approach for DFU and Chronic Wounds

 

This is a brief summary of a presentation given at the annual conference of Wounds Canada, in Mississauga, Ontario, on November 16th, 2017. It has been produced with the financial support of Integra Life Sciences. The presenter was Robert Fridman, DPM FACFAS CWSP, a fellowship-trained podiatric surgeon at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at New York-Presbyterian Columbia University Medical Center and the Department of Surgery at New York-Presbyterian Weill-Cornell Medical Center.

 

Normal Wound Healing
For health-care professionals, standard wound management consists of preparing the wound bed to support the healing process. When treating diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs), health-care professionals must work toward controlling infection, correcting ischemia, optimizing nutrition, correcting hyperglycemia and offloading of the wound.

 

Offloading
Offloading is one of the cornerstones of effective management of a diabetic foot ulcer, as it helps to minimize repetitive trauma to the area. Total contact casting (TCC) has been established as the gold standard to achieve offloading while enabling patients to ambulate. TCC enables pressure to be transmitted to the cast wall or rearfoot, resulting in decreased forefoot pressure. The device also reduces gait speed and shortens stride length, resulting in reduction of pressure. Ankle movement and the propulsive phase of gait are reduced, resulting in a reduction in vertical loading forces (see Figure 1). Ninety percent of DFUs have been shown to heal within six weeks when treated with a TCC … read more

$70,000 Amputation or $250 Offloading Procedure

Please choose one

Easy choice right? Not for the Government of Ontario Canada. The vast majority of the 2,000 amputations that occur per year in that country would be preventable with common offloading practices (total contact casting*). Doris Grinspun, CEO of the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario was assured three years ago by government ‘premieres’ that they would begin to cover such procedures … that’s three years or 6,000 legs or $420,000,000 ago. “We’re willing to pay for the amputations but we’re not willing to pay for the prevention,” offered Grinspun.

Cost and human suffering aside, mortality rates jump significantly after an amputation especially in older patients, diabetes further increases mortality rates. In one rather grim study** 390 patients that had undergone lower extremity amputations were reviewed, of the patients with diabetes “the median time to death was 27.2 months“.

So if you are suffering from diabetic neuropathy and experience a diabetic foot ulcer and happen to be living in Ontario Canada you need to get your affairs in order. But there is hope as The Ontario Health Technology Advisory Committee is currently assessing total contact casting to treat foot ulcers, check back in three years.
original article

*total contact casting is considered “The Gold Standard of off-loading”. A comparison of the three major off-loading methods (total-contact casts (TCCs), removable cast walkers (RCWs), and half-shoes) reinforces this point. The proportions of healing for patients treated with TCC, RCW, and half-shoe were 89.5, 65.0, and 58.3%, respectively. A significantly higher proportion of patients were healed by 12 weeks in the TCC group when compared with the two other modalities.

**Mortality and Hospitalization in Patients After Amputation
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/29/10/2252.full 

Off-Loading the Diabetic Foot Wound
A randomized clinical trial
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/24/6/1019.long

How To Ensure Effective Offloading With Total Contact Casting

I recently had the opportunity to speak at a dinner meeting to a group of wound care clinicians. During a question and answer session, the topic of discussion drifted toward the use of total contact casting (TCC). I asked the meeting participants to indicate, with a show a hands, how many of them were using this modality regularly in their practice. I was shocked to see that the number was less than 10 percent.

 

Numerous authors have described the underlying pathology in the development of lower extremity ulcerations. Perhaps one of the greatest difficulties in managing complex lower extremity ulcerations is offloading the wound site effectively. A review of the literature demonstrates that TCC is the “gold standard” for offloading non-infected, non-ischemic plantar foot ulcerations.1,2

 

There are several mechanisms that combine to provide the reduction of peak plantar pressures via the use of TCC. Studies have established that the use of TCC decreases altered gait mechanics with shortened stride length and an overall reduction of walking velocity, both of which contribute to the reduction of plantar pressures.3 Furthermore, given the “cone effect” provided by the physical structure of the patient’s leg (an inverted cone), the TCC (a conical receptacle) also allows more even distribution of the patient’s weight read more

New Study, Same Conclusion …

New Study, Same Conclusion. It is time to take another look at Total Contact Casting

 

Total Contact Cast

Total Contact Cast

The most recent and perhaps the most conclusive study of for treatment of the diabetic foot is a collaboration of three prominent organizations, The Society for Vascular Surgery, the American Podiatric Medical Association and the Society for Vascular Medicine. The guidelines, “The Management of the Diabetic Foot,” were developed after three years of studies and are published online and in print in the Journal for Vascular Surgery. Dr. Anil P. Hingorani is the lead author that researched and wrote the guidelines. With diabetes a major worldwide problem and little data on treatments, the need for detailed, diabetic foot clinical guidelines from multiple disciplines was great, said Hingorani.

 

The committee synthesized the points of view of the three different medical professions by researching one another’s treatment protocols. Vascular surgeons and vascular medicine specialists read literature from podiatry and vice versa, for example, and all participants concentrated on infectious disease control and guidelines, a large component of the finished document. Collaboration was key, Hingorani said. “We had multiple disciplines looking at the problem to bring the best information from each field to develop the guidelines,” he said, though only limited “high-quality evidence” was available for many of the critical questions.

 

One of the findings that physicians may find surprising, it was the importance of the total contact cast in the treatment of plantar diabetic foot ulcers, which the committee found was is supported by robust data. Off-loading takes all direct pressure off the ulcer through use of a total contact cast. “total contact casting is so under-utilized,” Hingorani said. “I think some surgeons may find it surprising and it may raise a few eyebrows. Many surgeons are not aware of how strong the evidence is for total contact casting. It is not new but not widely understood or implemented.”
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Diabetic Foot Ulcer Off-loading: The Gap Between Evidence and …

 

Diabetic Foot Ulcer Off-loading: The Gap Between Evidence and Practice. Data from the US Wound Registry

 

Off-loading was documented in only 2.2% of 221,192 visits from January 2, 2007, to January 6, 2013. The most common off-loading option was the postoperative shoe (36.8%) and TCC (16.0%). There were significantly more amputations within 1 year for non-TCC–treated DFUs compared with TCC-treated DFUs (5.2% vs 2.2%; P = .001). The proportion of healed wounds was slightly higher for TCC-treated DFUs versus non-TCC–treated DFUs (39.4% vs 37.2%). Infection rates were significantly higher for non-TCC–treated DFUs compared with TCC-treated DFUs (2.6 vs 1.6; P = 2.1 × 10−10). Only 59 clinics used TCC (61%) … read more

Should Patients Buy Offloading Footwear From You?

It is a challenging, common situation: wound care patients require offloading devices for diabetic and/or neuropathic plantar ulcers, but there is no insurance coverage for those items.  You explain that they will bear the cost of the product(s), but they believe the expenses should be covered by you. When you offer to sell the product(s) directly or suggest the patients purchase them elsewhere, they refuse. Ultimately, their wounds worsen or don’t improve.

 

It is well documented that shoe-based offloading approaches are used more frequently than any other modality in the treatment of plantar diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs).1,2 It is equally well established that supporting data are limited.3 Additionally, since there is no reimbursement for shoe-based offloading, the products and materials that physicians select to create offloading structures may be based as much on acquisition cost and availability than on any empirical review. When a DFU is the sole indication, the only offloading options that are routinely covered by Medicare (or insurance) are total contact casting and Crow walkers, both of which are used infrequently and are not “accepted” by many physicians or patients.1,2 The result of this disconnect between modalities that are reimbursed versus approaches that most physicians use is that there is no broadly recognized standard of care and actual care is highly variable from facility to facility …
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Reexamining The Gold Standard For Offloading Of DFUs

Although the total contact cast can be effective for offloading diabetic foot ulcers, it is not in wide usage. These authors assert the gold standard for offloading lies in the non-removability of the device and offer a closer look at the merits of transitional offloading.

 

According to the American Diabetes Association, there are approximately 29.1 million Americans, or 9.3 percent of the population, who suffer from diabetes.1 Twenty-one million of these people have already been diagnosed with the disease and 8.1 million remain undiagnosed.

 

This number, although large, pales in comparison with the 86 million Americans who have been classified as “pre-diabetic” and who are at risk of having diabetes in the near future.1 Each year, 1.7 million Americans 20 years of age or older add to this number. This amounts to 4,660 people per day or one new patient with diabetes every 19 seconds. A full 25.9 percent of Americans age 65 or older suffer from diabetes and its complications. Almost twice as many American Indians (15.9 percent) and African-Americans (13.2 percent) develop the disease as Caucasians (7.6 percent) with Hispanics close behind (12.8 percent). Asian-Americans are not spared as 9 percent of this population will develop the disease and its many complications.

 

Glycosylation affects all organ systems and leads to complications such as dyslipidemia with an increased incidence of hypertension, and systemic vascular disease. It also leads to the development of a progressive ascending peripheral neuropathy with a loss of sensation and sweat gland function. This in turn leads to ulceration and, in some cases, amputation when infection of the wounds goes unchecked by an immune system that is also compromised by the process …
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How to apply a Total Contact Cast


This video demonstrates the application of the 901MF-WH Total Contact Casting Kit. Instructional dialog extends the length of the application considerably, actual application time of the Total Contact Casting Kit once comfortable with the process is approximately 5 minutes. For more information on the total contact casting kits being used visit: http://m-medusa.com