Change in amputation predictors in diabetic foot disease: effect of multidisciplinary approach.

Diabetic foot disease causes important morbidity in diabetic population, and amputation due to diabetic foot disease occurs more often than in general population. We have been evaluating patients with diabetic foot disease in a multidisciplinary approach since year 2000. In the current study, we sought to investigate the change in amputation rate and its predictors in diabetic foot with a multidisciplinary team approach. Seventy-four patients (52 male, 22 female) hospitalised between January 2002 and December 2007 were retrospectively analysed. Sixteen out of 74 have undergone amputation. We found overall amputation rate as 21.6%, which is lower than previously reported from our institution (36.7 and 39.4%, respectively). Major amputations (syme, below-knee, above-knee) were applied to 11 patients (14.9%). A logistic regression model including osteomyelitis, peripheral neuropathy, peripheral vascular disease, hypertension, gangrene and age revealed that gangrene is now the only significant predictor for amputation. Our observations confirm that amputation rate has declined after implementation of a multidisciplinary team work, and risk factors apart from presence of gangrene are no longer amputation predictors in our centre.