69th American Diabetes Association Symposium has Limb Salvage Front And Center

The topics of amputation prevention and diabetic foot care were again front and center at the 69th American Diabetes Association (ADA) symposium in New Orleans. Record turnout for the foot sessions was punctuated by key research findings and summaries. David G. Armstrong, DPM, PhD, Chair of the ADA’s Foot Care Interest Group, chaired the overall proceedings. “I am thrilled with not only the turnout, but the enthusiasm at this year’s meeting. I think it is again a testament to the work being done in the area of diabetic foot and amputation prevention.” Professor Andrew Boulton of the University of Manchester, was a keynote speaker at the Saturday Interest Group Symposium. He summarized the last year’s work in the area. Key developments were: the ADA’s Comprehensive Diabetic Foot Program, which now standardizes a foot exam and referral patterns across specialties; the DFCon symposium on defining success in clinical trials of wound healing, which sought to continue the discussion on the way that the US FDA identifies promising new drugs and devices in wound healing; the NIH’s Charcot Foot Symposium, which was brought together to improve research in the area of the medical and surgical treatment of the complex problem; and the historic American Podiatric Medical Association/Society for Vascular Surgery collaboration in the diabetic foot. Nicknamed “the Toe and Flow”, the effort is designed to emphasize interdisciplinary collaboration in the care of the high risk foot. “This was a wonderful year in this area of medicine”, noted Professor Boulton “We look forward to going from strength to strength here forward to reduce the unnecessary number of amputations in the USA and worldwide.”