The Superiority of Removable Contact Splints in the Healing of Diabetic Foot during Postoperative Care.

OBJECTIVE: Off-loading is one of the crucial components of diabetic foot (DF) therapy. However, there remains a paucity of studies on the most suitable off-loading for DF patients under postoperative care. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of different protective off-loading devices on healing and postoperative complications in DF patients following limb preservation surgery. METHODS: This observational study comprised 127 DF patients. All enrolled patients had undergone foot surgery and were off-loaded empirically as follows: wheelchair+removable contact splint (RCS) (group R: 29.2%), wheelchair only (group W: 48%), and wheelchair+removable prefabricated device (group WP: 22.8%). We compared the primary (e.g., the number of healed patients, healing time, and duration of antibiotic (ATB) therapy) and secondary outcomes (e.g., number of reamputations and number and duration of rehospitalizations) with regard to the operation regions across all study groups. RESULTS: The lowest number of postoperative complications (number of reamputations: p = 0.028; rehospitalizations: p = 0.0085; and major amputations: p = 0.02) was in group R compared to groups W and WP. There was a strong trend toward a higher percentage of healed patients (78.4% vs. 55.7% and 65.5%; p = 0.068) over a shorter duration (13.7 vs. 16.5 and 20.3 weeks; p = 0.055) in the R group, as well. Furthermore, our subanalysis revealed better primary outcomes in patients operated in the midfoot and better secondary outcomes in patients after forefoot surgery-odds ratios favouring the R group included healing at 2.5 (95% CI, 1.04-6.15; p = 0.037), reamputations at 0.32 (95% CI, 0.12-0.84; p = 0.018), and rehospitalizations at 0.22 (95% CI, 0.08-0.58; p = 0.0013). CONCLUSIONS: This observational study suggests that removable contact splint combined with a wheelchair is better than a wheelchair with or without removable off-loading device for accelerating wound healing after surgical procedures; it also minimises overall postoperative complications, reducing the number of reamputations by up to 77% and the number of rehospitalizations by up to 66%.

Comparison of the effect of stem cell therapy and percutaneous transluminal angioplasty on diabetic foot disease in patients with critical limb ischemia.

BACKGROUND AIMS: The aim of our study was to compare the effect of autologous stem cell therapy (SCT) and percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) on diabetic foot disease (DFD) in patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI). METHODS: Thirty-one patients with DFD and CLI treated by autologous stem cells and 30 patients treated by PTA were included in the study; 23 patients with the same inclusion criteria who could not undergo PTA or SCT formed the control group. Amputation-free survival, transcutaneous oxygen pressure (TcPO2) and wound healing were assessed over 12 months. RESULTS: Amputation-free survival after 6 and 12 months was significantly greater in the SCT and PTA groups compared with controls (P = 0.001 and P = 0.0029, respectively) without significant differences between the active treatment groups. Increase in TcPO2 did not differ between SCT and PTA groups until 12 months (both Ps < 0.05 compared with baseline), whereas TcPO2 in the control group did not change over the follow-up period. More healed ulcers were observed up to 12 months in the SCT group compared with the PTA and control groups (84 versus 57.7 versus 44.4 %; P = 0.042). CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed comparable effects of SCT and PTA on CLI, a major amputation rate that was superior to conservative therapy in patients with diabetic foot and an observable effect of SCT on wound healing. Our results support SCT as a potential promising treatment in patients with CLI and diabetic foot.

Application of gentamicin-collagen sponge shortened wound healing time after minor amputations in diabetic patients - a prospective, randomised trial.

INTRODUCTION: Diabetic foot infections are frequently polymicrobial. The lower tissue concentration of systemically administered antibiotics in diabetic patients was reported. Collatamp(®)EG (Syntacoll GmbH Saal/Donau, Germany) is a bioabsorbable, gentamicin impregnated collagen spongeused for local treatment. The aim of this randomized trial was to assess influence of gentamicin-collagen sponge applied to a wound on surgical outcomes after minor amputations in diabetic patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Fifty diabetic patients indicated for minor amputation in 2009 at our surgery department were included in the study. Patients were pre-operatively randomised into two groups. Twenty-five patients in group A were treated with gentamicin impregnated collagen sponge applied into wound peri-operatively while 25 patients in group B had minor amputation without gentamicin sponge. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the demographic data, procedures performed, diabetes duration and peripheral vascular disease severity between the groups. The median glycosylated haemoglobin was 6.0% (range: 4.6-9.5%) in group A and 6.2% (range: 4.0-8.4%) in control group B (non-significant). Median TcPO2 level was 44 (range: 13-67) in group A and 48 (range: 11-69) in control group B (non-significant). The median of wound healing duration in group A was 3.0 weeks (range: 1.7-17.1 weeks) compared to 4.9 weeks (range: 2.6-20.0 weeks) in control group B. This was with a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Application of gentamicin impregnated collagen sponge shortened wound healing duration after minor amputations in diabetic patients by almost 2 weeks.