Ortega

Diabetic Foot Ulcers Facts from Dr. Felix R. Ortega

by Columbia Surgery on October 25, 2010

Felix Raymond Ortega, MD

Felix Raymond Ortega, MD

As a follow-up our post on Screening for Diabetic Foot Ulcers, Director of the Wound Healing Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University, Dr. Felix R. Ortega provided us with these facts on diabetic foot ulcers:

  • Approximately 15% of New Yorkers have diabetes.

  • 45% of New Yorkers with diabetes have very poor control of their blood sugar.

  • One in six diabetics will develop a foot ulcer during their lifetime.

  • The number one reason for hospital admission for diabetic complications is infected foot ulcerations.

  • Compared to the general population, people with diabetes are 25 times more likely to require an amputation.

  • In North America, a person with diabetes has an amputation every 30 seconds.

  • A comprehensive foot care program can reduce amputations by 85%.

Physician Explaining Proper Foot Care to Diabetic Children

Physician Explaining Proper Foot Care to Diabetic Children*

For more information about wound treatment visit the Wound Healing Center.

* Photo Credit: bit.ly/dyR7fC

Tagged as: diabetes, Ortega, wound

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Screening for Diabetic Foot Ulcers

by Columbia Surgery on October 8, 2010

About one in every six patients with diabetes will develop a foot ulcer, and of those, one in four will require amputation. Beginning with even a small skin injury, a diabetic foot wound can worsen to include deeper layers of skin, muscle, and bone.

Given the seriousness of diabetic ulcers, one might think that screening should be well organized and routine across the medical profession. Unfortunately, however it is not. Foot ulcers are frequently overlooked during routine physical exams and because patients cannot feel them, they can be ignored for long stretches of time. By the time a patient seeks help, it has often become serious.

Diabetic Ulcer on Left Ankle

Diabetic Ulcer on Left Ankle*

This is why it is crucial for people to be screened not only for ulcers but for their risk factors. “If a patient is found to have one or more risk factors for diabetic foot ulcers, then that should lead to more frequent screenings for ulcers themselves,” says Felix R. Ortega, MD, Director, NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center Wound Healing Program,

To address the need for increased screening for diabetic foot ulcers, Dr. Ortega and Gerald Weber, DPM, Attending Physician, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center Wound Healing Program, have developed the first comprehensive screening program. The Diabetes Complications Detection, Treatment and Prevention Program to be implemented by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in 2011, will be available to hospital patients as well as the general public.

Every patient will receive comprehensive and standardized evaluations that include tests designed to detect diabetic complications even before symptoms appear. At the same time, the program will collect complete data on every patient in order to study the effect of specific treatment regimens among patients with particular characteristics. Randomized to different types of treatments at the Columbia Wound Healing Program, patients will be followed at regular intervals and their data gathered for at least three to five years. “For each type of patient, we will be able to prospectively determine which treatments are most effective,” says Dr. Weber.

This is the first time that treatments for diabetic foot ulcers will be compared in this comprehensive manner. The data gathered by the program will likely be used by the Department of Health, the National Institutes of Health and pharmaceutical companies to conduct individual clinical studies.

Please visit the Diabetic Foot Ulcers Facts from Dr. Felix R. Ortega for more information on diabetes and foot ulcers.

* Photo Credit: bit.ly/d7eQsb

Tagged as: diabetes, Ortega, Weber, wound

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