Importance of education in the prevention of diabetic foot syndrome.

To the Editor, Diabetic foot syndrome (DFS) is defined by the WHO as ulceration or destruction of foot tissue in diabetic patients associated with neuropathy, with different degrees of the disease existing and frequently also with infection. The statistics are frightening: more than million amputations are annually carried out worldwide due to diabetic foot (Foster and Lauver 2014) and these amputations represent as far as 70% of all non-traumatic amputations. In 2013, 861 647 patients were treated for diabetes mellitus in Czech Republic, including 44 657 patients with diabetic foot syndrome and 11 168 patients had to experience the amputation of lower limb due to this condition. Up to 80% of ulcerations results from external trauma, most frequently due to poor footwear (Zvolský 2013). Diabetic foot syndrome possesses serious medical, social and economic consequences with the length of the therapy and high risk of the amputation. Patients with diabetic foot syndrome become marginalised and vulnerable after amputations, mainly due to the dependence on family and society, whether on the level of self-care or economic.