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Latest Amputations & Amputee Articles
Diabetes Amputations & Amputee Article Archives
July 2011
The ArterioFlow 7500 is a pump that exerts pressure on an affected part of the body to force blood to flow more freely and widely. Increased blood flow is often the key to speeding up the healing of diabetic ulcers and preventing them from turning into infected wounds that can lead to gangrene and amputation.
1 comment - Posted Jul 29, 2011
Nipro Diagnostics, Inc., and NeuroMetrix, Inc., have announced that they will seek opportunities to sell their soon-to-be-introduced NC-stat® DPNCheckTM neuropathy test in retail medical clinics nationwide. The test, conducted onsite, evaluates neuropathies, including diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN).
1 comment - Posted Jul 16, 2011
May 2011
The rate of foot and leg amputations among people with diabetes fell by as much as 36 percent in one four-year period, according to a study of patients at Veterans Affairs clinics. Taking patients' age and sex into account, amputations-major and minor-dropped from about seven per 1,000 patients in 2000 to between four and five per 1,000 by 2004. The latter figure is a reduction of around 36 percent, with the biggest decrease coming in above-the-knee amputations.
0 comments - Posted May 4, 2011
March 2011
Researchers at the University of California at Davis have begun a study to see if patients' own adult stem cells can be used to increase lower leg blood circulation and possibly prevent amputation due to arterial disease or diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Mar 27, 2011
A motorized artificial knee that "learns" its user's walking style and then adjusts its performance accordingly has just been introduced into the United States. Besides building a database about a user's walking style, the knee can make adjustments on the fly, taking into account changes in speed, terrain, and stride.
0 comments - Posted Mar 23, 2011
Edward Danielson developed type 1 diabetes 79 years ago, in 1931, only a decade after the discovery of insulin. Edward's wife of 67 years, Dorothy, recalls, "In the spring of 1930, when Edward was ten, his teacher told his mother that he ought to be checked by a doctor because something seemed to be wrong. His mother got on the streetcar with Edward and they went down to see the doctor, who said, ‘There's nothing wrong with him. He's just slow.' So they went home. In the fall of the same year, his new teacher said, ‘Something's wrong with Edward--he ought to be checked out by a doctor.' So they went back, and that doctor diagnosed him with diabetes. They kept him in the hospital for a month because the doctors then didn't know that much about diabetes 1."
1 comment - Posted Mar 10, 2011
November 2009
Princeton, NJ - November 10, 2009 -- Diabetic foot ulcers are the primary cause of hospital admissions for diabetics. Foot ulcers that heal improperly are at risk for infection, which can lead to amputation. According to the American Diabetes Association, one in four patients with diabetic foot ulcers will eventually require lower-limb amputation. Now science has found a way of mobilizing stem cells within the body to treat this health issue, which affects more than three million Americans annually.
0 comments - Posted Nov 11, 2009
August 2009
A 43-year-old Iraq war veteran with diabetes is living in Texas with his wife and four young children when he is told that he must prepare for the amputation of one of his legs. The spreading, non-healing wounds and their complications make the amputation necessary to save not just his limb, but his life, his doctors tell him. But he refuses to proceed with the amputation surgery.
6 comments - Posted Aug 10, 2009
June 2009
Patients with type 2 diabetes reduced their risk of having a foot amputated by 36 percent when they took fenofibrate, a drug designed to lower blood fat levels.
0 comments - Posted Jun 12, 2009
April 2009
The Insight Foot Care Scale is a unique bathroom weight scale designed to help people with diabetes check their feet every day. As most people with diabetes know, daily foot observation is an important step in managing diabetes. Neuropathy, a common complication of diabetes, can cause complete loss of sensation in the extremities, which makes it possible for minor cuts and sores to go unnoticed until they are problematic.
1 comment - Posted Apr 8, 2009
January 2009
Utah Jazz owner, Larry H. Miller had his legs amputated six inches below the knee last week. A spokesman for the successful pro basketball team told the Associated Press that the surgery was due to complications from type 2 diabetes. The spokesman noted that Miller was already using a wheelchair before the surgery. Miller is 64 years old.
5 comments - Posted Jan 26, 2009
December 2008
The day I heard "Diabetes is not the leading cause of heart attack, blindness, kidney disease, and amputation," my life changed. I had believed the opposite to be true for the 32 years I'd been dealing with diabetes. Complications had always hung like a knife over my head.
14 comments - Posted Dec 22, 2008
The first time I presented medical research findings, I was not yet a physician. The year was about 1975. I was in my early forties and a mid-career engineer. The forum was a scientific symposium on diabetes. At the time, I felt that I had discovered the holy grail of diabetes care and was eager to share what I had learned.
22 comments - Posted Dec 8, 2008
July 2008
The 2008 Amputee Coalition of America’s annual national conference in Atlanta June 19 through 22 set new attendance records, driven by interest in the proposed federal prosthetic parity law and other issues of importance to amputees.
0 comments - Posted Jul 10, 2008
March 2008
A Diabetes Health advisory board member offers advice on how to treat your feet well and avoid wounds and infections that could lead to amputation.
2 comments - Posted Mar 7, 2008
January 2008
New Jersey has enacted a law guaranteeing access by amputees to comprehensive health insurance coverage for orthotic and prosthetic care. The new law mandates that health insurance plans offer coverage for orthotic and prosthetic care without caps and co-pays that restrict access to prescribed devices.
1 comment - Posted Jan 21, 2008
November 2007
Q: Dear Diabetes Health, My 82-year-old father is a type 2 diabetic. He is in extreme pain due to an ulcer on his toe and is at risk of amputation of his foot. Here in Canada, the doctors are quick to amputate.
11 comments - Posted Nov 25, 2007
December 2002
In the United States, amputations resulting from traumatic injury or cancer declined between 1988 and 1997. However, amputations caused by circulatory problems—which include diabetes-related complications—increased by 27 percent during that period.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2002
In the United States, amputations resulting from traumatic injury or cancer declined between 1988 and 1997. However, amputations caused by circulatory problems - which include diabetes-related complications - increased by 27 percent during that period.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2002
September 2002
If you base your lancet changes on the turning of the seasons, you might want to rethink your policy.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2002
August 2002
A compression cuff called the ArtAssist, which increases blood flow to the lower limbs, reduces the need for amputation by more than half in selected users and is effective in treating arterial disease, says ACI Medical of San Marcos, California, which makes the medical device.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2002
September 1997
Neuropathy is one of the most common complications of diabetes. Unless something is done to stop the trend, 50 percent of people with diabetes are predicted to develop neuropathy, or nerve damage, in their legs. Because there is a loss of protective sensation which signals pain, injuries can occur as a result. These neuropathy-related injuries can cause ulcers that lead to amputations for an estimated 54,000 patients every year in the United States.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1997