For the past 20 years – and longer before that – service members have returned from deployment talking about mental health concerns and illness they believed were linked to their time in the military, with many of their concerns backed by a variety of studies. Now, a study that has been following military personnel, both […]
Learn about diabetic foot ulcers, a common and costly complication of diabetes that often leads to lower limb amputation, and the role peripheral arterial disease (PAD) plays in its development and severity.
Dr. Edward Boyko and Dr. Matilde Monteiro-Soares are co-authors of the chapter, “Peripheral Arterial Disease, Foot Ulcers, Lower Extremity Amputations, and Diabetes,” in the NIDDK publication Diabetes in America, 3rd Edition. Here, they discuss how health care professionals can diagnose PAD and prevent foot complications in patients with diabetes.
Q: What are diabetic foot ulcers? How are diabetes, PAD, and foot ulcers related?
Dr. Monteiro-Soares: There’s still some debate about a specific definition for diabetic foot ulcers. However, experts agree that a diabetic foot ulcer is a break in the skin that must involve at least the epidermis and a part of the dermis, but it can reach more deeply to tendons or even bone. A diabetic foot ulcer may occur anywhere on the