Sunday Newscape Magazine

Tucson, Arizona - Every 30 seconds, someone loses a limb due to diabetes. Two professors at the University of Arizona department of surgery have written a guide to help physicians prevent amputation and manage foot-related complications in patients with diabetes to curb alarming trend.

Amputation is a severe consequence for many of the estimated 24 million people in the United States who suffer from diabetes because the foot is especially prone to complications from the disease.

Drs. David G. Armstrong and Joseph L. Mills, both professors of surgery at the UA and members of the Southern Arizona Limb Salvage Alliance, identify key components of the diabetic foot exam in the guide.

“Every 30 seconds, someone loses a limb due to diabetes,” Armstrong said, “In the past, different specialists were speaking different languages when talking about diagnosis and treatment. For the first time, there is a simple, common language that can help clinicians better identify in a quick visit the level of risk a person with diabetes has for amputation.”

The doctors provide a simple protocol for physicians to use for their patients with diabetes in the report, “Comprehensive Foot Examination and Risk Assessment,” published in this month's online edition of Diabetes Care. The report was the culmination of a blue-ribbon task force assembled by the American Diabetes Association.

Dr. Armstrong co-chaired the task force with Dr. Andrew J.M. Boulton, from the University of Manchester. In addition to Mills (vascular surgeon), Armstrong (podiatry) and Boulton (diabetology), the task force included internationally renowned specialists in family medicine, orthopaedics, physical therapy and endocrinology.