DIABETIC FOOT SYNDROME

Diabetic foot syndrome (DFS) is a complex and evolutionary pathology with a multi-factorial pathogenesis, which involves both peripheral neuropathy and / or peripheral arterial disease (i.e. angiopathy) and infection. These factors contribute to the progression from a foot at risk to an ulcerated foot and then to an amputation. It is estimated that DSF affects 300 000 diabetic patients in Poland.

In a routine way of DFS treatment the patient has to travel to a foot care clinic for regular visual inspections of the wound. Because locomotion is a big problem for the DFS patient, home telemonitoring is a very useful technique for them that can significantly increase patients’ comfort.

First DFS telemonitoring systems were based on a social nurse who visited patients at home, documented the wound healing progress with a digital camera and sent these data either in a store-and-forward mode or during a life teleconsultation to a physician for evaluation.

A different approach has been used in the TeleDiaFoS system that was designed and developed in IBBE PAS and which was adopted for the needs of the MODEL CENTER. In this case patients document the wound healing by themselves using the home-located patient modules that are able to make foot pictures using a built-in foot scanner. The patients modules can also retrieve the blood glucose and the blood pressure data from internal memory of the respective meters and upload them together with the scanned images to a server. The medical staff accesses the patient’s data using clinical workstations, that implement an algorithm for semi-automatic wound area assessment, which is the main parameter for the effectiveness of the treatment evaluation.

Patient’s Module and an exemplary wound documented using the module.

Patient’s Module and an exemplary wound documented using the module.

Diabetic Foot Module. Current diabetes treatment.

Diabetic Foot Module. Documentation of the foot lesions.

Diabetic Foot Module. Documentation of the foot lesions.