DIABETIC FOOT SURGERY ‘‘MADE IN ITALY”. RESULTS OF 15 YEARS OF ACTIVITY OF A THIRD-LEVEL CENTRE MANAGED BY DIABETOLOGISTS
Terrific valedictory work by our long-time SALSAmigo, Prof. Alberto Piaggesi, et al from Pisa.
Aim: To evaluate clinical outcomes in patients who underwent diabetic foot surgery (DFS) managed directly by diabetologists in a third-level Centre over 15-year.
Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 1.857 patients affected by diabetic foot (Age 67.1 ± 12.3 yrs, diabetes duration 19.2 ± 9.8 yrs, HbA1c 8.1 ± 2.0%) treated in our Department between 2001 and 2015 and divided them into 3 groups: Group 1, treated between 2001 and 2005 (448 pts), group 2, between 2006 and 2010 (540 pts) and Group 3, between 2011 and 2015 (869 pts). Main clinical outcomes [peripheral revascularization rate (PR), healing rate (HR), healing time (HT), recurrences after healing (R), major amputation (MA) and death (D) rates] were compared between groups.
Results: The overall outcomes of our cohort were: HR 81.6% (HT 143 ± 54 days), PR 84.8%, MA 4.9% and D 27.9%. There were no differences in clinical characteristics, except for age, higher (p < 0.05) in Group 3 (70.6 ± 14.7 yrs) than in Groups 1 (64.4 ± 11.6 yrs) and 2 (65.1 ± 11.2 yrs). No differences emerged when comparing HR and MA; HT was shorter (p < 0.05) in group 3 (104 ± 44 days) than in Group 2 (169 ± 72 days) and 1 (235 ± 67 days). D was higher (p < 0.05) in Group 3 (43.8%) than in Group 1 (23.1%) and 2 (28.1%). PR was 19.4% in Group 1, 28.1% in Group 2 and 53.8% in Group 3 (p < 0.05).
Conclusions: Despite the increasing age and complexity of patients our data show improve- ment of outcomes throughout 15 years, probably due to better surgical techniques, more aggressive medical therapy and more effective treatment of critical limb ischemia.
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