Diabetic Amputations

Every 30 seconds someone loses a limb because of diabetes. It's a startling statistic that doctors at the University of Arizona are hoping to improve.
Dr. David Armstrong is leading a study looking at bone infections in diabetics.
"What we actually found was, that many of these patients who were destined for a high level amputation in the past, did not necessarily need that amputation," said Dr. David Armstrong.
Armstrong's team has found that aggressive surgery to cut out the bone infection, while sparing important blood vessels, is very successful.
"We call it the toe and the flow philosophy, where there's someone managing the foot and there's someone managing the blood flow into the foot," said Dr. Armstrong.
Dr. Armstrong is still conducting several studies on diabetics at risk for amputation and is currently enrolling participants. If you would like to participate go to www.diabetic-foot.net.