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Checking Foot Temperature Curbs Diabetic Sores
Checking Foot Temperature Curbs Diabetic Sores -- Posted by Gumbo on 11-16-04 05:00
Checking Foot Temperature Curbs Diabetic Sores
on Tuesday, November 09 @ 15:54:31 EST
Type 2 patients who monitor their foot temperatures at home may be able to
ward off developing leg and foot ulcers -- and the infections and
amputations that can result.
Dr. Lawrence A. Lavery of Texas A&M Health Science Center, in Temple, and
colleagues examined the effectiveness of at-home infrared temperature
monitoring in 85 at-risk patients.
Forty-one participants were assigned to a standard therapy group and were
given therapeutic footwear, diabetic foot education, and regular foot
evaluations by a podiatrist.
Forty-four subjects were placed in an enhanced therapy group in which they
received standard care plus a handheld infrared skin thermometer to measure
temperatures on the sole of the affected foot in the morning and evening.
If elevated temperatures were detected -- greater than 4 degrees F compared
to the other foot -- the patients were considered at risk of ulceration and
were instructed to reduce their activity and contact the study nurse.
The participants were followed for 6 months, during which time nine foot
complications were seen in the standard therapy group, compared with one
complication in the enhanced therapy group.
Infections developed in two patients in the standard therapy group and local
foot amputations were performed. In contrast, no infections or amputations
occurred in the enhanced therapy group, Lavery's team reports.
They realize that the results might have come from enhanced vigilance among
subjects given the thermometer, and say they look forward to further studies
of this approach.
If its value is confirmed, "thermometers may be used to allow patients to
dose their activity ... just as many dose their insulin by checking their
blood glucose," the researchers write.
Diabetes Care, November 2004.
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