A Method of Analyzing Footprint Using the Harris Mat for Diabetic Foot Lesion

ABSTRACT

Deformity due to the diabetic foot causes repetitive and excessive pressure to the certain areas of a foot, which may result in ulcers and pains. Therefore, it is necessary to measure the pressure of the sole for the prevention and management of the diabetic foot lesions. The computerized foot scan system is one of the direct methods to measure the excessive pressure from the deformity of a foot. However, it is not usually affordable in a developing country due to its high cost, space occupancy, and lack of trained personnel. Manual counting using Harris mat is another rather affordable method, however it has problem of the time consumption for a quantitative measure and poor in reproducibility. The purposes of this study were to obtain the objective and quantitative data from Harris mat footprints of diabetic patients by using Paint Shop Pro and to apply the same method to the patients with other foot lesions. Fifty three cases(twenty four males and, twenty nine females) who were referred due to the diabetic foot lesions were evaluated. The average age was 56.62+/-8.03 years and the duration of diabetes mellitus was 104.93+/-79.53 months. By the Paint Shop Pro , the highest pressure was recorded at the first toe(thirteen cases), followed by the calcaneal area (also thirteen cases) and the first metatarsal head area (seven cases) in order of the right foot. Of the left foot, the highest pressure was recorded at the first toe (fourteen cases), followed by the calcaneal area(twelve cases) and the third metatarsal head area(nine cases). By the manual analysis, the highest pressure was recorded at the calcaneal area (thirteen cases), followed by the first toe(ten cases) and the fifth metatarsal head area (six cases) in order of the right foot. Of the left foot, the highest pressure site was the first toe(fourteen cases), followed by the calcaneal area(fifteen cases) and the third matatarsal head area(seven cases) in order of pressure level. Based on these results, we have concluded that the Paint Shop Pro analysis method is an easy and inexpensive foot pressure measurement system which is clinically applicable. However further researches for the test-retest reliability and a comparison with the computerized foot scan system would be required for the standardization of this method.