LONDON, Ontario - "John" is an avid golfer. Like many Londoners, he spends the majority of the summer on the golf green perfecting his swing. It wasn't until he noticed a blood stained sock after a long day on the course that he realized the extent of his diagnosis of diabetes. He had not realized that he had golfed 18 holes that day with a golf tee in his shoe. The loss of feeling and sensation in the feet, as he experienced, is a common complication for people with diabetes. Nerve damage, also called neuropathy, is caused by diabetes and can lead to numbness in the extremities. This numbness can result in severe damage simply because an individual cannot sense or feel that there is a problem. Unfortunately, John's story is not unique.
According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, over 2.25 million Canadians are estimated to have diabetes. Of these, forty per cent will develop long term complications, such as ulcers. An initiative launched at the Aging, Rehabilitation Geriatric Care Research Centre, associated with the Lawson Health Research Institute (Lawson) is focused on educating patients, such as John, on the importance of preventative care. "It's much easier to prevent ulcers and wounds than it is to treat them," says Dr. David Keast, wound care expert and scientist at Lawson. "Ulcers that become infected predispose patients with diabetes to amputation." The statistics are alarming. According to Dr. Keast, if an individual has one limb amputated they have a fifty per cent chance of the other limb being amputated within a 3-year period. As well, they are fifty percent more likely to die within five years.
Kyle Goettl, Nurse Clinician with the Amputee program at Parkwood Hospital, St. Joseph's Health Care, London, and part of the wound care research team, has created a teaching video to educate newly diagnosed diabetics of the importance of proper foot-care practices. Exposure to current best-practice foot-care recommendations and the incorporation of those practices into their daily lives may help to prevent future wounds and possible amputations. The reality for many clinics is they don't have the resources or the time to devote to individual foot-care demonstrations. The video is now being used by health care practitioners across Canada and the U.S. A follow-up study was conducted to test the impact of the video and results indicate that the video was effective in altering the perception of the importance of foot care in people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
According to the Lower Extremity Amputation Prevention Program (LEAP) in the United States, it is believed that seventy per cent of amputations are preventable. It is our goal to drastically reduce this number through our educational outreach programs and research initiatives," says Dr. Keast. "We want to keep diabetics, such as John, on their feet and enjoying life.
Lawson researchers are not only leading the way in education and prevention, but also in testing new treatment options for wound care. The wound care research group at Parkwood Hospital is currently recruiting patients to participate in a clinical research project aiming to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of BST-DermOn, an experimental wound dressing, in the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers. To be considered for this study, diabetic patients must have an ulcer meeting the following criteria:
- At least 1 cm x 1 cm
- Located on the plantar foot surface including the toes
- Present for at least 4 weeks, but no longer than 2 years
Due to the very specific inclusion criteria, interested individuals are asked to contact Lise Goettl, Study Nurse, for further assessment. 519-685-4292, ext. 44024.
Dr. David Keast is also Medical Director of the Outpatient Chronic Wound Management Clinic at Parkwood Hospital, St Josep\'s Health Care, London and a Clinical Adjunct Professor of Family Medicine at the Schulich School of Medicine Dentistry at The University of Western Ontario.
About Lawson Health Research Institute
As the research institute of London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph's Health Care, London, and working in partnership with The University of Western Ontario, Lawson Health Research Institute is committed to furthering scientific knowledge to advance health care around the world.
For more information, please contact:
Melissa Beilhartz, Communications Consultant
Lawson Health Research Institute
519-646-6100 ext. 65516
melissa.beilhartz@sjhc.london.on.ca
www.lhrionhealth.ca
