The first experience of using a comprehensive detailed ultrasound examination of the foot in patients with diabetes mellitus

Introduction: Assessment of amputation risk has been discussed more than once in the management of patients with diabetes. Systemic inflammatory symptoms can serve as signs of an infectious process. However, not all patients show exhibit these symptoms in a timely manner. At the same time, a decrease in pain, tactile and temperature sensitivity fails as a part of the main assessment of risk factors in diabetes mellitus.

Methods: Using examination methods and comparing with clinical experience and the results of other researchers, a pilot study was carried out to diagnose structural changes in the foot in patients with diabetes. Nested examinations were carried out in several stages, on the expert class medical ultrasonographic apparatus Siemens Acuson NX3. The methods of ultrasound diagnostics in the diabetic foot can be significantly helpful when using a scale of criteria and guidelines for the examination.

Conclusion: The main diagnostic criterion for determining the risks of developing a diabetic foot condition, could be a gradual transition from the phase of compaction of hyaline cartilage to the phase of synovitis, and then to the phase of development of bone tissue necrosis related to a part of the Charcot's foot. It leads to disruption of the musculoskeletal system of the foot, and atherosclerotic plaques and stenosis of the dorsalis pedis artery and first toe, which form a deterioration in the nutrition of the soft tissues of the foot with their necrosis.