Search Results
The efficacy of concentrated autologous platelet-derived growth factors in the healing and closure of chronic lower-extremity wounds was evaluated in 24 patients with 33 lower-extremity wounds treated previously for at least 6 months using traditional methods. Surgical wound debridement was performed to convert chronic ulcers into acute wounds. Concentrated autologous platelet-derived growth factors and thrombin were applied to the wound bases and protected with a nonadhering compression dressing that remained intact for 7 days. Wounds were evaluated and the concentrate was reapplied every 2 weeks. Wound closure and complete epithelialization was achieved in 20 wounds. Seventy-five percent or greater wound closure was obtained in three wounds, 50% to 74% closure in three wounds, and 25% to 49% closure in two wounds. Five wounds displayed no improvement. Mean time to complete closure was 11.15 weeks. The application of concentrated autologous platelet-derived growth factors and thrombin resulted in substantial wound healing and wound-diameter reduction. This technique constitutes a safe and effective treatment option and avoids lengthy treatment periods that increase the potential for infection. (J Am Podiatr Med Assoc 96(6): 482–488, 2006)
Background: Ultraviolet (UV)-A therapy is a simple, inexpensive, and effective modality for wound healing, with tremendous potential to improve healing and reduce clinical infections in a number of clinical settings. To date, application of UV-A relies on bulky and hard-to-dose lamps that provide inconsistent therapy, thus making it difficult to apply therapy that is appropriate for the patient.
Methods: This study was designed to test the effectiveness of a novel wound therapy device that combines UV-A with traditional negative-pressure wound therapy (NPWT) to promote wound healing. Furthermore, we tested the ability of fiberoptic UV-A delivery to inhibit bacterial proliferation. Finally, we assayed the level of DNA damage that results from UV-A as compared to established UV-C therapies. Wound healing studies were performed in a porcine model using an articulated therapy arm that allows for continued therapy administration over an extended time course. Negative-pressure wound therapy was administered alone or with UV-A fiberoptic therapy for 2 weeks. Dressings were changed twice a week, at which time wound area was assessed.
Results: Data demonstrate that UV-A with NPWT treatment of wounds results in greater healing than NPWT alone. Using the same therapy device, we demonstrate that exposure of Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa to fiberoptic UV-A results in decreased colony area and number of both bacterial strains. Finally, we show that UV-A induces minimal DNA damage in human fibroblasts and no more DNA damage in wound tissue as compare to intact skin.
Conclusions: These data demonstrate that UV-A can decrease bacterial proliferation and promote wound healing when coupled with NPWT.
Background
In this study, we aimed to evaluate the potential use of a 3-phase bone scintigraphy method to determine the level of amputation on treatment cost, morbidity and mortality, reamputation rates, and the duration of hospitalization in diabetic foot.
Methods
Thirty patients who were admitted to our clinic between September 2008 and July 2009, with diabetic foot were included. All patients were evaluated according to age, gender, diabetes duration, 3-phase bone scintigraphy, Doppler ultrasound, amputation/reamputation levels, and hospitalization periods. Patients underwent 3-phase bone scintigraphy using technetium-99m methylene diphosphonate, and the most distal site of the region displaying perfusion during the perfusion and early blood flow phase was marked as the amputation level. Amputation level was determined by 3-phase bone scintigraphy, Doppler ultrasound, and inspection of the infection-free clear region during surgery.
Results
The amputation levels of the patients were as follows: finger in six (20%), ray amputation in five (16.6%), transmetatarsal in one (3.3%), Lisfranc in two (6.6%), Chopart in seven (23.3%), Syme in one (3.3%), below-the-knee in six (20%), above the knee in one (3.3%), knee disarticulation in one (3.3%), and two patients underwent amputation at other centers. After primary amputation, reamputation was performed on seven patients, and one patient was treated with debridement for wound site problems. No mortality was encountered during study.
Conclusions
We conclude that 3-phase bone scintigraphy prior to surgery could be a useful method to determine the amputation level in a diabetic foot. We conclude that further, comparative, more comprehensive, long-term, and controlled studies are required.
Background: Plantar first metatarsal ulcerations pose a difficult challenge to clinicians. Etiologies vary and include first metatarsal declination, cavus foot deformity, equinus contracture, and hallux limitus/rigidus. Our pragmatic, sequential approach to the multiple contributing etiologies of increased plantar pressure sub–first metatarsal can be addressed through minimal skin incisions.
Methods: A retrospective review was performed for patients with surgically treated preulcerations or ulcerations sub–first metatarsal head. All of the patients underwent a dorsiflexory wedge osteotomy, and the need for each additional procedure was independently assessed. Equinus contracture was treated with Achilles tendon lengthening, cavovarus deformity was mitigated with Steindler stripping, and plantarflexed first ray was treated with dorsiflexory wedge osteotomy.
Results: Eight patients underwent our pragmatic, sequential approach for increased plantar pressure sub–first metatarsal, four with preoperative ulcerations and four with preoperative hyperkeratotic preulcerative lesions. The preoperative ulcerations were present for an average of 25.43 weeks (range, 6.00–72.86 weeks), with an average size of 0.19 cm3 (median, 0.04 cm3). Procedure breakdown was as follows: eight first metatarsal osteotomies, four Achilles tendon lengthenings, and six Steindler strippings. Postoperatively, all eight patients returned to full ambulation, and the four ulcerations healed at an average of 24 days (range, 15–38 days). New ulceration occurred in one patient, and postoperative infection occurred in one patient. There were no ulceration recurrences, dehiscence of surgical sites, or minor or major amputations.
Conclusions: The outcomes in patients surgically treated for increased plantar first metatarsal head pressure were evaluated. This case series demonstrates that our pragmatic, sequential approach yields positive results. In diabetic or high-risk patients, it is our treatment algorithm of choice for increased plantar first metatarsal pressure.
Background:
Since 2006 there have been increased reports of severe agranulocytosis and vasculitis associated with levamisole use. Historically, levamisole was an immunomodulatory agent used in various cancer treatments in the United States. Currently the drug is used as an antihelminthic veterinary medication, but it is also used as an additive in freebase cocaine. There are multiple reports of levamisole-induced vasculitis in the head and neck but limited reported cases in the lower extremities. This article describes a 60-year-old woman who presented to the emergency department with multiple painful lower-extremity ulcerations.
Results:
Radiographs, laboratory studies, and punch biopsy were performed. Physical examination findings and laboratory results were negative for signs of infection. Treatment included local wound care and education on cocaine cessation, and the patient was transferred to a skilled nursing facility. Her continued use of cocaine, however, prevented her ulcers from healing.
Conclusions:
Local wound care and cocaine cessation is the optimal treatment for levamisole-induced lesions. With the increase in the number of patients with levamisole-induced vasculitis, podiatric physicians and surgeons would benefit from the immediate identification of these ulcerations, as their appearance alone can be distinct and pathognomonic. Early identification of levamisole-induced ulcers is important for favorable treatment outcomes. A complete medical and social history is necessary for physicians to treat these lesions with local wound care and provide therapy for patients with addictions.
Background:
We investigated the validity of probe-to-bone testing in the diagnosis of osteomyelitis in a selected subgroup of patients clinically suspected of having diabetic foot osteomyelitis.
Methods:
Between January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2008, inpatients and outpatients with a diabetic foot ulcer were prospectively evaluated, and those having a clinical diagnosis of foot infection and at least one of the osteomyelitis clinical suspicion criteria were consecutively included in this study.
Results:
Sixty-five patients met the inclusion criteria and were prospectively enrolled in the study. Forty-nine patients (75.4%) were hospitalized, and the remaining 16 (24.6%) were followed as outpatients. Osteomyelitis was diagnosed in 39 patients (60.0%). Probe-to-bone test results were positive in 30 patients (46.1%). The positive predictive value for the probe-to-bone test was fairly high (87%), but the negative predictive value was only 62%. The sensitivity and specificity of the test were 66% and 84%, respectively. White blood cell counts and mean C-reactive protein levels did not statistically significantly differ between groups. However, erythrocyte sedimentation rates greater than 70 mm/h reached statistical significance between groups. Wound area and depth were not found to be statistically significantly different between groups.
Conclusions:
Positive probe-to-bone test results and erythrocyte sedimentation rates greater than 70 mm/h provide some support for the diagnosis of diabetic foot osteomyelitis, but it is not strong; magnetic resonance imaging or bone biopsy will probably be required in cases of doubt. (J Am Podiatr Med Assoc 102(5): 369–373, 2012)
Fasciotomy and Surgical Tenotomy for Chronic Achilles Insertional Tendinopathy
A Retrospective Study Using Ultrasound-Guided Percutaneous Microresection
Background:
Achilles insertional tendon pathology is a common condition affecting a broad range of patients. When conservative treatments are unsuccessful, the traditional open resection, debridement, and reattachment of the Achilles tendon is a variably reliable procedure with significant risk of morbidity. Fasciotomy and surgical tenotomy using ultrasound-guided percutaneous microresection is used on various tendons in the body, but the efficacy has not been examined specifically for the Achilles tendon.
Methods:
A retrospective review evaluated 26 procedures in 25 patients who underwent Achilles fasciotomy and surgical tenotomy. The Foot Function Index was used to quantify pain, disability, activity limitation, and overall scores.
Results:
Mean Foot Function Index scores were as follows: pain, 8.53%; disability, 7.91%; activity limitation, 2.50%; and overall, 6.97%. Twenty index procedures were successful, and two patients repeated the procedure successfully for an overall 84.6% success rate in patients with chronic insertional pathology with mean surveillance of 16 months. There were no infections or systemic complications.
Conclusions:
Ultrasound-guided percutaneous microresection is a safe and minimally invasive percutaneous alternative that can be used before proceeding to a more invasive open procedure.
Fungal Diversity and Onychomycosis
An Analysis of 8,816 Toenail Samples Using Quantitative PCR and Next-Generation Sequencing
Background:
Onychomycosis is a fungal infection of the nail that is often recalcitrant to treatment and prone to relapse. Traditional potassium hydroxide and culture diagnosis is costly and time-consuming. Therefore, molecular methods were investigated to demonstrate effectiveness in diagnosis and to quantify the microbial flora present that may be contributing to disease.
Methods:
A total of 8,816 clinically suspicious toenail samples were collected by podiatric physicians across the United States from patients aged 0 to 103 years and compared with a control population (N = 20). Next-generation sequencing and quantitative polymerase chain reaction were used to identify and quantify dermatophytes, nondermatophyte molds, and bacteria.
Results:
Approximately 50% of suspicious toenails contained both fungi and bacteria, with the dermatophyte Trichophyton rubrum contributing the highest relative abundance and presence in 40% of these samples. Of the remaining 50% of samples, 34% had bacterial species present and 16% had neither. Fungi only were present in less than 1% of samples. Nondermatophyte molds contributed to 11.0% of occurrences in fungus-positive samples. All of the control samples were negative for fungi, with commensal bacterial species composing most of the flora population.
Conclusions:
Molecular methods were successful in efficiently quantifying microbial and mycologic presence in the nail. Contributions from dermatophytes were lower than expected, whereas the opposite was true for nondermatophyte molds. The clinical significance of these results is currently unknown.
Phaeohyphomycosis is a spectrum of subcutaneous and systemic infections caused by a variety of dematiaceous fungi. It is an opportunistic disease with an increased incidence in immunocompromised patients. We report a case of a pedal phaeohyphomycotic cyst in an immunocompetent adult male immigrant with the goal of highlighting its clinical presentation, diagnosis, and optimal treatment. A 57-year-old male immigrant from Panama presented with a painless, gradually increasing, large cystic lesion in his left foot, first intermetatarsal space, which had been present for many years. The patient was treated with surgical excision without antifungal therapy. Histologic analysis showed multiple granulomas composed of fibrin and necrosis in the centers surrounded by proliferative palisading fibroblasts admixed with heavily infiltrated neutrophils, plasma cells, macrophages, lymphocytes, and eosinophils. Periodic acid-Schiff and Fontana-Masson stains revealed sporadic, scattered dematiaceous fungal hyphae and pseudohyphae among granulomatous tissues. The mass was diagnosed as a phaeohyphomycotic cyst. Polymerase chain reaction–based sequencing failed to identify the fungal species because of the rarity of the fungal elements in the granulomatous tissues. The patient had no recurrence at a follow-up of 2 years. A phaeohyphomycotic cyst is a rare entity that needs to be differentiated from other benign and malignant lesions. Multiple modalities, including clinical evaluation, radiography, histologic analysis, microbiological culture, and nucleic acid sequencing, should be used for the final diagnosis. Surgical excision is an optimal treatment. Antifungal therapy should be considered based on the patient’s clinical manifestation, surgical excision, and immune functional status.
This prospective longitudinal study assessed whether baseline mean skin temperature measurements are useful in predicting the most common foot-related complications of diabetes mellitus. We evaluated the mean of baseline skin temperatures taken bilaterally from six plantar sites in 1,588 patients with diabetes. There was no difference in skin temperature based on neuropathy, foot laterality, or foot risk category or between people with and without foot deformity and elevated plantar foot pressure. Whereas people with Charcot’s arthropathy had slightly but significantly higher mean temperatures (84.8° ± 3.5° F versus 82.5° ± 4.7° F), this was not true for those who developed ulcers or infections or who underwent amputations. The presence of vascular disease was not associated with lower skin temperatures. Mexican Americans (83.0° ± 4.6° F) and blacks (83.6° ± 4.5° F) had higher mean skin temperatures at baseline than did non-Hispanic whites (81.8° ± 4.6° F). Baseline measurement of nonfocal mean skin temperatures is not an effective means of screening people for future events. Regular assessment of skin temperatures, using the contralateral site as a physiologic control, may be a better use of this technology. (J Am Podiatr Med Assoc 93(6): 443-447, 2003)
