On diabetic foot, wound healing, amputation prevention, and the merger of consumer tech with medical devices
A novel inflammation-nutrition biomarker — the neutrophil percentage-to-albumin ratio (NPAR) — shows strong association with diabetic foot ulcer risk in a 1,002-patient study from Xi'an, China, reinforcing that what patients eat and how they inflame are inseparable in the diabetic foot.
A Stanford team demonstrates that a smartphone app measuring vibration perception thresholds can detect large-fiber sensory deficits in patients with diabetes — a potential advance for accessible, patient-operated neuropathy screening.
A scoping review from Kanazawa University maps 60 studies on AI-powered thermography for diabetic foot detection — and reveals a critical gap: nearly half of all studies were tested only in controlled environments, not the real world where feet actually live.
A cost-effectiveness analysis of the DIAFOS trial shows that in-shoe plantar pressure-guided custom footwear saves over €8,000 per ulcer prevented — and adherent patients push the probability of cost-effectiveness to 94%. The economic case for prevention just got stronger.
A new single-center study from the Netherlands quantifies the devastating outcomes of the diabetic foot attack: only 48.5% wound closure, 46% major amputation by 12 months, 26% one-year mortality, and 12-month amputation-free survival of just 39.7%. Time is tissue.
A new bibliometric analysis from Wei and colleagues at Capital Medical University in Beijing maps 25 years (2000–2024) of global research on plantar pressure and diabetic foot ulcers — over 2,100 publications indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection. The findings tell a story that will feel familiar to many of us who have... Continue Reading →
This is the kind of study that should make every clinician who manages the diabetic foot sit up a little straighter. The DM PAD study — a prospective, multicentre diagnostic accuracy study across 16 NHS centres and 604 patients — just landed in Health Technology Assessment. Led by Burgess, Normahani, and colleagues at Imperial College... Continue Reading →
Honored to deliver the keynote at the inaugural meeting of ADFA in Paris.
Chronic wounds are biological computers stuck in a boot loop. Sharp debridement is Control-Alt-Delete — the histological reboot that converts a chronic wound back into an acute one. Only then can you run the apps.
A new Cell paper shows nerve hyperinnervation suppresses skin regeneration -- and botulinum toxin A removes the brake. For diabetic foot ulcers, this could be the breakthrough we've been waiting 30 years for.
