In putting this blog together, we have surprisingly already been contacted with requests from clinicians and people with diabetes. To that end, we would formally announce that we are happy to expound on any issue related to diabetes, wound healing, and amputation prevention put out there. To that end, as per request, here is the... Continue Reading →
Admixture of Calcium Sulfate Pellets
This week, we at SALSA have some patients who have a certain degree of bone involvement in their wounds that might benefit from locally implanting a high degree of antibiotics. This again reminded us of the requests we often received for how to mix medical-grade calcium sulfate with various classes of antibiotics. Tobramycin, Gentamicin and... Continue Reading →
Rapid Response Diabetic Foot Team Skill Set
In the work we have been doing with the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) along with our own work at SALSA, we have proposed the following key skill set for any "rapid response team" dedicated to amputation prevention: Ability to perform site-appropriate culture technique Ability to perform vascular work-upAbility to perform revascularization, as necessary Ability to perform... Continue Reading →
Health Care Service and Outcomes Among an Estimated 6.7 Million Ambulatory Care Diabetic Foot Cases in the U.S.Â
This from our @UofA / @BCM, UTSouthwestern and Oklahoma SALSA team. 6.7 million diabetic foot ulcers, 785 million diabetes-related outpatient visits and 5.5 billion visits overall suggest that diabetic foot ulcers are common, complex, and costly. Compare this frequently silent and sinister problem to CHF, MI, stroke. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate ambulatory clinical cases of diabetic foot... Continue Reading →
Prevention = Remission: How One Word Can Change Everything
This abstract is from an upcoming JAPMA manuscript from Joe Mills and me. We have been using this terminology in our clinic for some time and believe it truly makes a difference. Here's to measuring that effect! We credit our friend and colleague Jeff Robbins with simultaneously working on this subject as well and for... Continue Reading →
Foot Technology & Wounds: Special Online Symposium in Journal of Diabetes Science & Technology
Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology is an electronic-only publication, indexed in MEDLINE by the National Library of Medicine. The journal publishes latest research, analyses, reviews, editorials, and commentaries from the leaders in the field of diabetes technology. In it's recent issue, the journal published the Part 1 of 2, for a special symposium on... Continue Reading →
Overview of the RANKL OPG Pathway
https://youtu.be/_G9ZZ0MfbkU Authorship: Nicholas A. Giovinco Julia Bernardini David G. Armstrong The Receptor Activator for Nuclear Factor kappa B Ligand is believed to be an important molecule of bone metabolism. This is a natural and necessary surface-bound molecule on several types of cells, and serves to activate osteoclasts. Overproduction of RANKL is implicated in a variety... Continue Reading →
Thermometry, Activity & Patients: Notes for the Physicians
"What should a clinician do in regards with thermometry and activity monitoring, when seeing a diabetic patient?" All the literature out there, suggests that thermometry is useful in "Preventing" foot ulcers and the proven "Delta T" that is considered pre-ulcerous, is 4 Deg F or 2.2 Deg C. However, whether this value of "Delta T"... Continue Reading →
"Therm Deal" for the Diabetic Feet: WarmFeet Relaxation Method
Excellent work from our colleagues at University of Minnesota's Epidemiology Clinical Research Center! "Dr. Rice's technique was tested in multi-site clinical trials at the University of Wisconsin. The medical outcomes were highly significant and positive for increased wound healing and pain relief. Of patients who practiced the technique, 87.5 percent completely healed their chronic ulcers,... Continue Reading →
