Grants and Funding in Podiatric Science.

Evidence-based research is essential to improving podiatric medicine and surgery; however, there are many barriers to conducting research, with a major limitation being lack of research funding. There are various grants and funding sources available to podiatric surgeon scientists, but navigating through the resources can be daunting. In this article, we provide a framework for grant writing and funding opportunities for podiatric surgeons to consider.

A Rare Case of Acroangiodermatitis Associated with a Congenital Arteriovenous Malformation (Stewart-Bluefarb Syndrome) in a Young Veteran: Case Report and Review of the Literature.

Acroangiodermatitis (AD) is a rare angioproliferative disease manifesting with cutaneous lesions clinically similar to Kaposi's sarcoma. AD is a benign hyperplasia of preexisting vasculature and may be associated with acquired or congenital arteriovenous malformations (AVM), or severe chronic venous insufficiency (because of hypostasis, elevated venous pressure, arteriovenous shunting). Stewart-Bluefarb syndrome is the rare syndrome in which AD is associated with a congenital AVM. We present the case of a young veteran with a painful, chronic nonhealing ulcer and ipsilateral popliteal artery occlusion likely because of trauma, who elected transmetatarsal amputation for symptomatic relief. A 24-year-old male veteran presented with a 5-year history of a nonhealing dorsal left foot ulcer, resulting from a training exercise injury. He ultimately developed osteomyelitis requiring antibiotics, frequent debridements, multiple trials of unsuccessful skin substitute grafting, and severe unremitting pain. He noted a remote history of left digital deformities treated surgically as a child, and an AVM, previously endovascularly treated at an outside facility. Arterial duplex revealed somewhat dampened left popliteal, posterior tibial (PT), and dorsalis pedis (DP) artery signals with arterial brachial index of 1.0. CT angiography showed occlusion of the proximal to mid popliteal artery with significant calcifications felt initially to be a result of prior trauma. Pedal pulses were palpable and transcutaneous oxygen measurements revealed adequate oxygenation. Because of unremitting pain, the patient opted for amputation. Pathology revealed vascular proliferation consistent with AD. This case illustrates an unusual diagnosis of acroangiodermatitis, and a rare syndrome when associated with his underlying AVM (Stewart-Bluefarb syndrome). This resulted in a painful, chronic ulcer and was further complicated by trauma-related arterial occlusive disease. AD disease can hinder wound healing even in the presence of clinically evident blood flow. Although rare, such unusual diagnoses should be entertained particularly in the unusually young vascular surgical patient.

Evaluating and minimizing cardiac risk in surgical patients.

Cardiovascular complications are a major cause of postoperative morbidity and mortality. Proper assessment of risk and subsequent interventions can help diminish these complications. Assessing the patient's risk is based on the type of surgery performed and on individual patient characteristics. The latter can be established with a thorough history and physical, laboratory testing, risk indices, and cardiology studies.