NEWS - Checking foot temperature may curb diabetic sores

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Checking foot temperature may curb diabetic sores

Last Updated: 2004-11-03 14:41:27 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Patients with diabetes who are high risk for

developing leg and foot ulcers -- and the infection and amputation that

can result -- may be able to ward off these complications by monitoring

their foot skin temperatures at home, a new study suggests.

As described in the medical journal Diabetes Care, Dr. Lawrence A.

Lavery of Texas A & M Health Science Center, in Temple, and colleagues

examined the effectiveness of at-home infrared temperature monitoring in

85 at-risk patients.

Forty-one participants were assigned to a standard therapy group and

were given therapeutic footwear, diabetic foot education, and regular

foot evaluations by a podiatrist.

Forty-four subjects were placed in an enhanced therapy group in which

they received standard care plus a handheld infrared skin thermometer to

measure temperatures on the sole of the affected foot in the morning and

evening.

If elevated temperatures were detected -- greater than 4 degrees F

compared to the other foot -- the patients were considered at risk of

ulceration and were instructed to reduce their activity and contact the

study nurse.

The participants were followed for 6 months, during which time nine foot

complications were seen in the standard therapy group, compared with one

complication in the enhanced therapy group.

Infections developed in two patients in the standard therapy group and

local foot amputations were performed. In contrast, no infections or

amputations occurred in the enhanced therapy group, Lavery's team

reports.

They realize that the results might have come from enhanced vigilance

among subjects given the thermometer, and say they look forward to

further studies of this approach.

If its value is confirmed, " thermometers may be used to allow patients

to dose their activity ... just as many dose their insulin by checking

their blood glucose, " the researchers write.

SOURCE: Diabetes Care, November 2004.

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