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The authors performed a retrospective study of the safety and efficacy of toenail phenol and alcohol chemical matrixectomy in diabetic versus nondiabetic patients. Participating in the study were 66 patients, who underwent 137 nail procedures. The diabetic group consisted of 18 patients who underwent 39 procedures; the nondiabetic group consisted of 48 patients who underwent 98 procedures. The mean (+/- SD) healing time was 44 +/- 25 days for the diabetic group and 43 +/- 24 days for the nondiabetic group. The infection rate was 10.3% (4 of 39 procedures) for the diabetic group and 12.2% (12 of 98 procedures) for the nondiabetic group. In addition to validating this procedure for diabetic patients, this study showed no significant differences in the rate of postoperative complications between the two groups.
This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of primary wound healing as compared with primary amputation in individuals with chronic diabetic foot wounds. The authors review the potential benefits of vascular surgical procedures and advanced dressings, including two of the most promising modalities in modern wound care: growth factors and bioengineered skin. In this era of cost-conscious health-care administration, it is incumbent on the practitioner to consider not only the basic science of wound care, but also the economic aspect of treatment rendered. These various interventions, dressings, growth factor delivery systems, and new modalities could significantly reduce healing time, thereby reducing the risk of infection, hospitalization, and amputation while improving quality of life. If so, they may be truly cost-effective.
Multiple surgical strategies are available for managing the infected diabetic foot at risk for amputation. The authors present their experience with the closed instillation system in the management of 30 such cases in 29 patients over a 5-year period. Data were collected from the hospital records of neuropathic patients presenting with deep-plantar-space infections or presumed acute osteomyelitis. All 29 patients were male; 57% had marginal or poor vascular supply, and 83% were nutritionally compromised or had proteinuria. At the conclusion of the study, 34% of the patients were dead, reflecting the severity of comorbid conditions found in this population. Despite the marginal healing capacity of these patients, the procedure had a 90% success rate, as defined by expeditious return to prior level of functioning and residential living situation without need for re-operation or higher-level amputation.
The foot is rarely the focus of osteoid osteoma, and only a few of those cases are related to the fifth metatarsal. The present case demonstrates that atypical symptoms with suspicious findings on plain radiographs that are not associated with trauma must be analyzed carefully to determine the nature of the lesion and perform the precise treatment to obtain and sustain the cure. A 29-year-old man presented to the outpatient clinic with a 2-year history of chronic pain in the lateral aspect of his left forefoot. The onset was not related to trauma, surgery, local infection, osteomyelitis, or another entity regarding the proximal fifth metatarsal. The patient noted that the pain was aggravated at night and typically subsided with the use of salicylates or other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Initial plain radiographs demonstrated cortical thickening and a lytic lesion at the proximal diaphysis of the fifth metatarsal. Because the pain relief was transient, we suspected an osteoid osteoma lesion, and subsequent magnetic resonance imaging manifested pathognomonic signs of subperiosteal osteoid osteoma. Diagnosis was followed by planning of the surgery that ended the patient's symptoms.
Abstract
Historically recalcitrant to treatment, infection of the nail unit is a pervasive clinical condition affecting about 10%-20% of the U.S. population; patients present with both cosmetic symptomatology and pain, with subsequent dystrophic morphology. To date, the presumptive infectious etiologies include classically-reported fungal dermatophytes, non-dermatophyte molds, and yeasts. Until now, the prevalence and potential contribution of bacteria to the clinical course of dystrophic nails had been relatively overlooked, if not dismissed. Previously, diagnosis had been largely made via clinical presentation, although microscopic examinations (KOH) of nail scrapings to identify fungal agents, and more recently, panel-specific PCR assays have been employed to elucidate causative infectious agents. Each of these tools suffers from test-specific limitations. However, molecular-age medicine now includes DNA-based tools to universally assess any microbe or pathogen with a known DNA sequence. This affords clinicians with rapid DNA sequencing technologies at their disposal. These sequencing-based diagnostic tools confer the accuracy of DNA level certainty, while concurrently obviating cultivation or microbial phenotypical biases. Using DNA sequencing-based diagnostics, the results herein document the first identification and quantification of significant bacterial, rather than mycotic, pathogens to the clinical manifestation of dystrophic nails. In direct opposition to the prevailing and presumptive mycotic-based etiologies, the results herein invoke questions about the very basis for our current standards of care, including effective treatment regimens.
BACKGROUND:Diabetic foot ulceration is a severe complication of diabetes characterized by chronic inflammation and impaired wound healing. This study aims to evaluate the effect of a medical device gel based on Adelmidrol + Trans traumatic acid in the healing process of diabetic foot ulcers. METHODS: Thirty-seven diabetic patients with foot ulcers of mild/moderate grade were treated with the gel applied daily for 4 weeks on the affected area. The following parameters were evaluated at baseline and weekly: a) wound area, measured drawing a map of the ulcer then calculated with Photoshop6 tools, b) clinical appearance of the ulcer, assessed recording the presence/absence of dry/wet necrosis, infection, fibrin, neoepithelium, exudate, redness, granulation tissue. RESULTS: Topical treatment led to progressive healing of diabetic foot ulcers with a significant reduction of the wound area and an improvement in the clinical appearance of the ulcers. No adverse events treatment-related were observed. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this open-label study show the potential benefits of Adelmidrol + Trans traumatic acid topical administration to promote re-epithelialization of diabetic foot ulcers. Further studies need to confirm the observed results.
Abstract
Background: Many surgical techniques have been reported for the treatment of ingrown toenails. Occurrences of infection after matricectomy procedures could cause clinicians to prefer using external braces to treat ingrown toenails. This study compares patients with ingrown toenails who underwent the nail fixation technique and the Winograd technique.
Methods: Patients who underwent ingrown toenail surgery were retrospectively reviewed. The patients’ demographic characteristics (age, gender, body mass index [BMI] morphology according to Heifetz classification, surgical technique, visual analog scale (VAS) values, time to return to daily activities (days), complications, and satisfaction levels were all recorded.
Results: Seventy patients were included in the study. Of the patients, 33 underwent nail fixation and 37 underwent the Winograd technique. No significant statistical differences were found in terms of patients’ age, gender, BMI, preoperative clinical features, long-term satisfaction, and ingrown toenail recurrence rates between the two groups, but time to return to daily activities and VAS values were statistically significantly lower in patients treated using nail fixation compared with the Winograd technique.
Conclusion: Nail fixation can be an effective surgical treatment option for an ingrown toenail.
A neurofibroma of the foot is an uncommon finding and may be associated with von Recklinghausen's disease. A case of a large, solitary neurofibroma is presented with no apparent systemic involvement on history and physical examination. The surgical approach and perioperative treatment for this lesion is presented, and a review of peripheral nerve tumors and neurofibromatosis. A tumor of this size poses many unforeseen problems: large dead space, wound dehiscence, and infection caused by hematoma formation. Preoperative magnetic resonance imaging to determine position, depth, and involvements of vital structures is invaluable. The lazy S incision allows for greater exposure with less skin tension from retraction, thus reducing the risk of wound dehiscence. Careful dissection prevents cutting or injuring of underlying atrophied tissue. Two years after surgery, the plantar muscle has returned to normal strength and size and only a slight amount of sensory deficit exists. His gait is normal, without limp, and with normal heel-to-toe ambulation. This patient's life-style has returned to normal with no alterations.
From 1982 to 1991, 17 patients underwent a lower extremity arterial bypass to salvage an ischemic transmetatarsal amputation at the New England Deaconess Hospital. Eleven patients were male, and 16 had diabetes for an average of 29 years. The mean age was 71 years. Twelve patients presented with an ischemic ulcer, one had rest pain, and four underwent bypass for failure to heal a transmetatarsal amputation. Twelve patients presented with findings of secondary infection. All 17 patients underwent successful lower extremity bypass procedures to a variety of outflow vessels. Thirteen bypasses were to infrapopliteal arteries, including four to the dorsalis pedis artery. There were no perioperative deaths and all patients were discharged with patent grafts and healing limbs. Actuarial graft patency of the 14 vein grafts was 90% at 2 years. Actuarial limb salvage for the entire group was 93% at 2 years. Thirteen of the 14 patients who maintained patent grafts and healed their transmetatarsal amputations were ambulatory at their last known follow-up examination. Ischemic complications of previously created transmetatarsal amputations are uncommon. However, limb salvage attempts by lower extremity arterial bypass have a high likelihood of success. Major amputation in these patients should not be done without having first undergone a comprehensive vascular evaluation.
A longitudinal outcome study of the tricorrectional bunionectomy with AO screw fixation for the correction of hallux abducto valgus was undertaken involving 84 consecutive patients (121 feet) with a mean age of 48.4 years who underwent the procedure over a 6-month period. Preoperative and postoperative measurements of forefoot angles were calculated, with the following mean results obtained: intermetatarsal angle of 14.46 degrees corrected to 5.72 degrees, hallux abductus angle of 26.38 degrees corrected to 11.65 degrees, proximal articular set angle of 19.85 degrees corrected to 6.06 degrees, and tibial sesamoid position of 4.75 corrected to 1.87. The average time to return to athletic shoes was 12.63 days. Postoperative complications were minor, with no delayed unions, malunions, hematomas, bone infections, or hallux varus. Long-term follow-up (mean, 21.33 months) using the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society's objective Hallux Metatarsophalangeal-Interphalangeal Scale revealed an overall mean score of 88.94 points out of a possible 100. An excellent mean result of 95 points out of a possible 100 on the subjective patient rating scale was also reported.
