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A survey of offloading practices for diabetes-related plantar neuropathic foot ulcers.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Offloading is key to preventing or healing plantar neuropathic foot ulcers in diabetes. Total contact casts or walkers rendered irremovable are recommended in guidelines as first-line options for offloading, however the use of such devices has been found to be low. This study aimed to investigate offloading practices for diabetes-related plantar neuropathic ulcers. METHODS: An online survey of closed and open-ended questions was administered via SurveyMonkey®. Forty-one podiatrists experienced in high-risk foot practice, from 21 high-risk foot services around Australia, were approached to participate. RESULTS: The response rate was 88%. Participants reported using 21 modalities or combinations of modalities, for offloading this ulcer type. The most frequently used modalities under the forefoot and hallux were felt padding, followed by removable casts or walkers, then non-removable casts or walkers. Participants indicated that many factors were considered when selecting offloading modality, including: compliance, risk of adverse effects, psycho-social factors, restrictions on activities of daily living, work needs and features of the wound. The majority of participants (83%) considered non-removable casts or walkers to be the gold-standard for offloading this ulcer type, however they reported numerous, particularly patient-related, barriers to their use. CONCLUSIONS: Selecting offloading for the management of foot ulceration is complex. Felt padding, not the gold-standard non-removable cast or walker, was reported as the most commonly selected modality for offloading plantar neuropathic ulceration. However, further evaluation of felt padding in high quality clinical trials is required to ascertain its effectiveness for ulcer healing.

SUBMITTER: Raspovic A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4332025 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A survey of offloading practices for diabetes-related plantar neuropathic foot ulcers.

Raspovic Anita A Landorf Karl B KB

Journal of foot and ankle research 20140813

<h4>Background</h4>Offloading is key to preventing or healing plantar neuropathic foot ulcers in diabetes. Total contact casts or walkers rendered irremovable are recommended in guidelines as first-line options for offloading, however the use of such devices has been found to be low. This study aimed to investigate offloading practices for diabetes-related plantar neuropathic ulcers.<h4>Methods</h4>An online survey of closed and open-ended questions was administered via SurveyMonkey®. Forty-one ...[more]

PMID: 25694793

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Project description:BackgroundOffloading interventions are commonly used in clinical practice to heal foot ulcers. The aim of this updated systematic review is to investigate the effectiveness of offloading interventions to heal diabetic foot ulcers.MethodsWe updated our previous systematic review search of PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases to also include original studies published between July 29, 2014 and August 13, 2018 relating to four offloading intervention categories in populations with diabetic foot ulcers: (a) offloading devices, (b) footwear, (c) other offloading techniques, and (d) surgical offloading techniques. Outcomes included ulcer healing, plantar pressure, ambulatory activity, adherence, adverse events, patient-reported measures, and cost-effectiveness. Included controlled studies were assessed for methodological quality and had key data extracted into evidence and risk of bias tables. Included non-controlled studies were summarised on a narrative basis.ResultsWe identified 41 studies from our updated search for a total of 165 included studies. Six included studies were meta-analyses, 26 randomised controlled trials (RCTs), 13 other controlled studies, and 120 non-controlled studies. Five meta-analyses and 12 RCTs provided high-quality evidence for non-removable knee-high offloading devices being more effective than removable offloading devices and therapeutic footwear for healing plantar forefoot and midfoot ulcers. Total contact casts (TCCs) and non-removable knee-high walkers were shown to be equally effective. Moderate-quality evidence exists for removable knee-high and ankle-high offloading devices being equally effective in healing, but knee-high devices have a larger effect on reducing plantar pressure and ambulatory activity. Low-quality evidence exists for the use of felted foam and surgical offloading to promote healing of plantar forefoot and midfoot ulcers. Very limited evidence exists for the efficacy of any offloading intervention for healing plantar heel ulcers, non-plantar ulcers, and neuropathic ulcers with infection or ischemia.ConclusionStrong evidence supports the use of non-removable knee-high offloading devices (either TCC or non-removable walker) as the first-choice offloading intervention for healing plantar neuropathic forefoot and midfoot ulcers. Removable offloading devices, either knee-high or ankle-high, are preferred as second choice over other offloading interventions. The evidence bases to support any other offloading intervention is still weak and more high-quality controlled studies are needed in these areas.

Project description:BackgroundWound classification systems are useful tools to characterise diabetes-related foot ulcers (DFU) and are utilised for the purpose of clinical assessment, to promote effective communication between health professionals, and to support clinical audit and benchmarking. Australian guidelines regarding wound classification in patients with DFU are outdated. We aimed to adapt existing international guidelines for wound classification to develop new evidence-based Australian guidelines for wound classification in people with diabetes and DFU.MethodsRecommended NHRMC procedures were followed to adapt suitable International Working Group on the Diabetic Foot (IWGDF) guidelines on wound classification to the Australian health context. Five IWGDF wound classification recommendations were evaluated and assessed according to the ADAPTE and GRADE systems. We compared our judgements with IWGDF judgements to decide if recommendations should be adopted, adapted or excluded in an Australian context. We re-evaluated the quality of evidence and strength of recommendation ratings, provided justifications for the recommendation and outlined any special considerations for implementation, subgroups, monitoring and future research in an Australian setting.ResultsAfter the five recommendations from the IWGDF 2019 guidelines on the classification of DFUs were evaluated by the panel, two were adopted and three were adapted to be more suitable for Australia. The main reasons for adapting, were to align the recommendations to existing Australian standards of care, especially in specialist settings, to maintain consistency with existing recommendations for documentation, audit and benchmarking and to be more appropriate, acceptable and applicable to an Australian context. In Australia, we recommend the use of the SINBAD system as a minimum standard to document the characteristics of a DFU for the purposes of communication among health professionals and for regional/national/international audit. In contrast to the IWGDF who recommend against usage, in Australia we recommend caution in the use of existing wound classification systems to provide an individual prognosis for a person with diabetes and a foot ulcer.ConclusionsWe have developed new guidelines for wound classification for people with diabetes and a foot ulcer that are appropriate and applicable for use across diverse care settings and geographical locations in Australia.

Project description:BackgroundDiabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic disease with hyperglycemia. If not treated in time, it may lead to lower limb amputation. At the initial stage, the detection of diabetes-related foot ulcer (DFU) is very difficult. Deep learning has demonstrated state-of-the-art performance in various fields and has been used to analyze images of DFUs.ObjectiveThis article reviewed current applications of deep learning to the early detection of DFU to avoid limb amputation or infection.MethodsRelevant literature on deep learning models, including in the classification, object detection, and semantic segmentation for images of DFU, published during the past 10 years, were analyzed.ResultsCurrently, the primary uses of deep learning in early DFU detection are related to different algorithms. For classification tasks, improved classification models were all based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs). The model with parallel convolutional layers based on GoogLeNet and the ensemble model outperformed the other models in classification accuracy. For object detection tasks, the models were based on architectures such as faster R-CNN, You-Only-Look-Once (YOLO) v3, YOLO v5, or EfficientDet. The refinements on YOLO v3 models achieved an accuracy of 91.95% and the model with an adaptive faster R-CNN architecture achieved a mean average precision (mAP) of 91.4%, which outperformed the other models. For semantic segmentation tasks, the models were based on architectures such as fully convolutional networks (FCNs), U-Net, V-Net, or SegNet. The model with U-Net outperformed the other models with an accuracy of 94.96%. Taking segmentation tasks as an example, the models were based on architectures such as mask R-CNN. The model with mask R-CNN obtained a precision value of 0.8632 and a mAP of 0.5084.ConclusionAlthough current research is promising in the ability of deep learning to improve a patient's quality of life, further research is required to better understand the mechanisms of deep learning for DFUs.

Project description:IntroductionDiabetes mellitus (DM) is associated with hyperglycaemia and advanced glycosylation end-products. In the foot, the consequences of chronic or uncontrolled diabetes are micro and macrovascular disease, neuropathy, reduced joint mobility and structural and soft tissue changes that increase the risk of ulcer development and amputation. Diabetes foot assessment currently includes a comprehensive history, neurological and vascular assessments and examination focussed on dermatological and musculoskeletal abnormalities. Whilst these assessments are helpful for predicting ulceration risk, direct identifiers that enable early therapeutic intervention are lacking. The intention of this review was to ascertain if B-mode ultrasound could be clinically applied to identify structural change in the diabetic foot and be utilised as an early predictor of ulceration risk.MethodsPrimary databases and grey literature sources were systematically searched. Selection criteria were that the study included a diabetic sample and used B-mode ultrasound to assess soft tissue structures of the foot (plantar skin, plantar fat pad or intrinsic muscles).ResultsFifteen studies were identified for inclusion (combined diabetic sample of 773). Ultrasound demonstrated reductions in tissue thickness in diabetics compared to non-diabetics under first (p = 0.01) and second (p = 0.03) metatarsal heads, but not the third (p = 0.24). Statistical heterogeneity was high for ultrasound thickness measures under metatarsal heads four/five (I2 65%, 81%) and very high for plantar skin (I2 98%), heel pad (I2 76%) and intrinsic muscles (I2 91%, 81%). Extensor digitorum brevis (EDB) ultrasound measures were significantly thinner in diabetics for all dimension measures compared to healthy controls except one study, which reported no significant differences in EDB thickness.ConclusionsNo direct evidence was found to indicate B-mode ultrasound measures can predict soft tissue changes in the plantar foot in diabetes, although low level studies indicate ultrasound has the potential to identify structural change. Clinical, methodological and statistical heterogeneity limit result applicability. This review highlights the need for robust prospective longitudinal research to examine the predictive validity of this method.

Dataset Information

A survey of offloading practices for diabetes-related plantar neuropathic foot ulcers.

Publications

A survey of offloading practices for diabetes-related plantar neuropathic foot ulcers.

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