Clinical outcomes of Diabetic Foot Clinic at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital

Abstract

Background : Diabetes-related lower extremity amputation is common and leads to poor quality of life. A comprehensive diabetic foot care can reduce amputation rate to 49 - 85%. Diabetic Foot Clinic was developed at the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine in 2004 to prevent foot ulcer and amputation. The authors aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes of the Diabetic Foot Clinic, i.e. patient-related and ulcer-related outcomes.

Objective : To study clinical outcomes of patients treated at the Diabetic Foot Clinic.

Design : Descriptive study.

Setting : Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital.

Materials and Methods : Medical records of patients who have continuously visited the Diabetic Foot Clinic for at least 1 year were retrospectively reviewed.

Results : There were 124 patients; 57 males with the mean age of 62.6 years. The percentage of death was 1.6%. The causes of death were infected diabetic foot ulcer and cellulitis. The percentage of lower limb amputation was 8.9%. The major and minor amputations were 3.2% and 5.6% respectively. The percentage of patients underwent surgical procedures was 8.1%. The surgical procedures were debridement and surgical graft. In total, there were 124 ulcers in 69 patients. Regarding healed ulcer, there was 66.94% healed by 12 months.

Conclusions : Clinical outcomes of patients treated at Diabetic Foot Clinic showed percentage of death and amputation as 1.6% and 8.9% respectively, whereas the percentage of healed ulcer was 66.9%.