Around 60 percent of patients who undergo limb amputation because of diabetic foot die within five years, according to Przemysław Lipiński, head of the Polish Wound Management Association (PTLR).
Lipiński, a surgeon, said Poland urgently needs a network of multidisciplinary public centers to treat diabetic foot, a serious complication of diabetes in which wounds, ulcers and infections develop, often because of nerve damage and poor circulation.
Nearly 4 million people in Poland have diabetes, and an estimated 200,000 to 250,000 patients are dealing with diabetic foot wounds.
One in four people with diabetes will develop a foot ulcer during their lifetime. Among those patients, five-year mortality is about 30 percent, rising to about 60 percent after amputation.
"Diabetic amputations can be prevented," Lipiński said.
"We are dealing with a paradox," he told Poland's PAP news agency. “Better treatment of heart disease has increased the number of older patients with diabetes. And although we know how to treat diabetes, we cannot completely stop the development of complications.”
He said diabetic foot requires coordinated care from several specialists at the same time, including a diabetologist, general surgeon, vascular surgeon, orthopedist, and a specialist who can prepare therapeutic footwear.
"Meanwhile, many Polish patients still move from one doctor's office to another as their condition worsens," he argued.
Diabetic foot wounds are often heavily infected and can involve drug-resistant bacteria, which makes treatment more complex and raises safety concerns for other patients.
Poland remains among European countries with high rates of lower-limb amputations among diabetes patients, according to Lipiński.
He said amputation is often the cheapest and easiest response to the condition, which discourages the development of more complex treatment centers.
"But amputation is above all an enormous cost for the patient; it means social and professional exclusion, and 60 percent of patients die within five years after losing a limb, so for most of them it is a death sentence,” he said.
He added that many patients hide the problem because of shame and stigma.
Diabetic foot affects people of different ages, including younger adults starting careers and families, Lipiński said.
(rt/gs)
Source: naukawpolsce.pl