On diabetic foot, wound healing, amputation prevention, and the merger of consumer tech with medical devices
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 →
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 systematic review finds that roughly one in three adults in remission after a healed diabetic foot ulcer develop a recurrent ulcer within 12 months — a risk comparable to several common cancers. Healing is the beginning of the next chapter, not the end of the story.
Nearly a Million Words Later: What 17 Years of DiabeticFootOnline Look Like in a Word Cloud I recently did something I probably should have done a long time ago. I pointed an AI at every single blog post on this site—all 3,835 of them—and asked it to show me what nearly two decades of writing... Continue Reading →
In the world of diabetic foot care, we often find ourselves at a crossroads when a patient presents with isolated toe necrosis. Traditionally, this meant an automatic ticket to the operating room (OR) for a conventional amputation surgery (CAS). But as operating rooms become increasingly crowded and resources stretched thin, we have to ask: is... Continue Reading →
In the journey to eliminate preventable amputations, we continue to look for ways to harness the body’s own regenerative potential. Our latest brief communication describes a significant “first” in the field: the application of fully automated tibial periosteal distraction (PD) for limb preservation. While it has long been understood that applying controlled “tension-stress” to tissue... Continue Reading →
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE LOS ANGELES – The work of David G. Armstrong, DPM, MD, PhD, and the Southwestern Academic Limb Salvage Alliance (SALSA) has crossed a significant bibliometric threshold, surpassing 90,000 citations in peer-reviewed literature. According to Google Scholar, Professor Armstrong’s research now holds an h-index of 133 and an i10-index of 549, reflecting the... Continue Reading →
For patients battling both diabetes and cancer, even a small foot wound can carry devastating consequences. Chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy, and stem cell transplants all compromise immunity and circulation. Add diabetes to the mix, and the risk of diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) and amputations rises dramatically. What’s more, even minor foot infections can force oncologists to... Continue Reading →
A newly published case series by our colleagues Yammine and colleagues in the International Wound Journal sheds light on a deceptively humble yet visually distinctive presentation in the diabetic foot: the “sausage toe.” Once thought rare, this bulbous, swollen toe is increasingly recognized as a clinical marker of underlying osteomyelitis. The study offers a thoughtful reappraisal of... Continue Reading →
