DIABETIC FOOT TREATMENT BY ENDOCRINOLOGISTS - OUR EXPERIENCE

Abstract

Diabetic foot complications are one of the most serious and expensive complications to treat. Lower limb amputations are always preceded by an ulcer. Strategies that include prevention, education of patients and staff, multidisciplinary treatment of diabetic ulcer, and close monitoring can reduce the level of amputation. At the Clinic of Endocrinology of UCCK, multidisciplinary approach of diabetic foot is evident last years, including (in addition to individual education, glycemic control and control of other complications of diabetes which were done earlier) and group education for diabetic foot as part of education diabetic, routine clinical examination for diabetic neuropathy, debridement and local treatment. There are regular professional consultation from vascular and orthopedic specialists, and also physiotherapists. Knowing the lack of podiatrist professionals, some trained endocrinologists do the debridement.

In this paper our experience in the diagnostic and therapeutic approach of diabetic foot is presented by several clinical cases, some of which were part of the risk group for amputation.

As a recommendation we emphasize that every patient at least once a year should be examined for foot problems; high-risk patients should be examined more frequently - every 1 to 6 months, depending on the degree of risk; the absence of symptoms (such as pain) does not mean that they are healthy; screening should not necessarily be done by the doctor or podiatrist but also by other trained staff.