What are Diabetic
Foot Ulcers?
Diabetic
Foot ulcers are chronic, complex, or problem wounds of the legs and feet in
people with diabetes. Diabetic
Foot Ulcers that do not heal within three months are usually considered Chronic
and Non Healing. Research shows that approximately 15 percent of all diabetes patients
will develop foot ulcers at some point in their lives.
People
with diabetes are particularly susceptible to diabetic foot ulcers because
diabetes can damage nerves in your legs and feet causing problems with your
blood flow, which in turn delays the process of wound healing.
What are
the causes of Diabetic Foot Ulcers and Non Healing Diabetic Wounds?
Diabetic
foot ulcers are caused by repetitive trauma or pressure on the foot that damage
your skin. These problems can go unnoticed by people with Neuropathy (numbness
in your feet) or Peripheral Vascular Disease (poor blood circulation in your
legs). Diabetes, immobilization, chronic edema, and circulatory problems contribute to
the majority of chronic, non-healing wounds. Other chronic wounds are the
result of traumatic injury, non-healing surgical wounds etc.
A
lack of sufficient oxygen (hypoxia) in the wound bed slows or stops the normal
healing process. Wound healing in people with diabetes is often complicated by
poor blood circulation in the feet and legs. Diabetic Foot Ulcers are prone to serious
bacterial infections that threaten life and limb.
How
do I know if I have a Chronic,
Non-Healing Wound?
If a wound has not improved
significantly in four weeks or if it has not completed the healing process in
eight weeks, it should be considered a Chronic Wound and a Non Healing wound.
In some extreme cases, dead tissue builds up
inside and around the ulcer, which requires surgery to remove – a procedure
called debridement. And if blood flow becomes too restrictive, you may require
bypass surgery to help re-open your arteries. Rarely, diabetic ulcers become
too infected or severe to treat.
As a last resort, amputation may be needed
to stop the infection from spreading throughout the body. Half of amputations performed each year are related to
diabetic wounds.
Wound care specialists classify diabetic
foot ulcers using the Wagner Grade Scale:
o
Grade 0: no open
lesions, but may possess pre ulcerative lesions, healed ulcers, presence of
bone deformity
o
Grade 1: superficial
ulcer, not involving subcutaneous tissue
o Grade 2: deep ulcer
with penetration through the subcutaneous tissue, potentially exposing bone,
tendon, ligament, or joint capsule
o
Grade 3: deep ulcer
with osteitis (bone inflammation), abscess (pus), or osteomyelitis (bone
infection)
o
Grade 4: gangrene of
digit (toe)
o
Grade 5: gangrene of
foot requiring disarticulation (amputation)
What is a Wound Healing Center or A
Diabetic Foot Care Center?
Plastic
and reconstructive surgeons, vascular surgeons, rehabilitation and hyperbaric
physicians work together as an integrated wound care team to cure problem
wounds.
Successful care of
problem wounds requires an integrated team approach together with adjunct Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) when appropriate.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) offers interdisciplinary outpatient care that is highly effective in
healing wounds that resist conventional therapies in cases such as: Complex Soft Tissue Wounds, Diabetic Foot Ulcers, Arterial Ulcers, Venous
Stasis Ulcers, Pressure Ulcers, Trauma Wounds, Skin Grafts and
Flaps, Necrotizing Soft Tissue Infections, Burns, Neuropathic Ulcers, Tissue
Damage from Radiation …
How Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Helps in Healing Diabetic Foot Ulcers
& Chronic Wounds?
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT)
is the process of breathing 100% oxygen in a carefully controlled, pressurized
environment, resulting in increased oxygen delivery to the body tissues. At
pressures greater than normal atmospheric pressure, the body is able to absorb
more oxygen into blood cell, blood plasma, cerebral spinal and other body
fluids. This increased oxygen activity enhances the body's ability
to heal.
The increased oxygen tension in tissues supports physiologic
wound healing, decreasing edema, enhances oxidative killing of bacteria,
increasing cellular energy production, antibiotic potentiation, neoangionenesis
promotion, enhanced epithelial migration, improved collagen production and
granulation-tissue formulation.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) when used as an adjunct treatment of
modality can significantly improve morbidity and mortality, reduce length of
hospital stay, reduces the need for surgical interventions, lessen the need for
surgery or foot amputations, reduces treatments costs, improves quality of
life…
Hyperbaric oxygen
Therapy (HBOT) is an effective adjunct to standard modalities for the
treatment of diabetic foot ulcers used in the western world for over twenty
years.
In India Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) has captured the interests of wound care
givers and podiatrists as their counterparts in the western world and will
become increasingly an adjunct treatment to provide healing care for Diabetic
Foot Ulcers in diabetic patients.
For requirement
of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Chambers in
India or To Locate a
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Treatment Center near to you kindly contact:
BIRD
MEDICAL DEVICES, MUMBAI, INDIA
Cell: 9769 484 123 (or)
9769 006 123 Tel: 91-22-65 655
123
(The content and information provided within
this site is for informational and educational purposes only. Consult a medical
doctor before pursuing any form of therapy, including Hyperbaric Oxygen
Therapy. The Information provided within this site is not to be considered
Medical Advice.)
