Poster Presentation Australian Diabetes Society and the Australian Diabetes Educators Association Annual Scientific Meeting 2017

Electronic capture of diabetic foot ulcer healing velocity in a real world setting (#285)

Helen Heenan 1 , Helen Lunt 1 2 3 , Stephen Percival 1 , Karyn Ballance 1 , Catherine Wilson 1
  1. Canterbury District Health Board, Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand
  2. Via Innovations, Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand
  3. University of Otago, Christchurch

Aims: Our high risk diabetic foot clinic captures electronic wound images and associated metrics, on nearly all clinic attendees as part of routine workflow. We describe wound metrics, focusing on changes in SA (surface area, cm2), in patients with slow-to-heal foot ulcers.

Method: Electronic ulcer imaging and wound measurement was undertaken using non-invasive laser technology (Silhouette Star®). Patients who; a) attended the high risk diabetic foot clinic between February 2015 and December 2016 and b) had a baseline image, followed by a subsequent image of an unhealed foot ulcer within 20-40 days of baseline, were eligible for inclusion. For patients with multiple ulcers, only the first ‘new’ ulcer was included in this analysis. A single blinded observer determined whether peripheral vascular disease was present (PVD) or absent (oPVD), in the ipsilateral lower limb.

Results: During the study period 3,506 foot images were captured on 302 patients; 84 patients fulfilled study inclusion criteria. Mean wound healing velocity ([change in absolute SA]/time) in these 84 patients was 0.52cm2 per 28 days. Wound healing velocity by PVD status (present/absent), is shown below:

 591d862d743e4-ADS-ADEA+2017(1).PNG

 Patients with PVD showed slower overall wound healing compared to oPVD (p <0.05, Mann Whitney U).

Conclusion:   In a real world setting, diabetic foot ulcer healing velocities in slow-to-heal ulcers demonstrate marked heterogeneity. This finding adds complexity to the study of predictors of wound healing velocities, within this clinical setting.