Denton County Living Well Magazine January/February 2018 | Page 27

The Role of the Podiatrist
in Diabetic Limb Salvage
Courtesy Complete Foot and Ankle Care
P
odiatrists play an important
part of the multidisciplinary
team in diabetic limb salvage
since they specialize in the
diagnoses and treatments of
pathologies of the foot and ankle.
Adding a podiatrist to the team trans-
lates to decreases in major amputation
rates by >50% and overall improved
outcomes for patients with challenging
diabetic situations.
Dr. Damien Dauphinée was recently in-
vited to lecture on surgical techniques
used in saving limbs threatened by the
complications of diabetes at the 2 nd
Annual Global Foot and Ankle Confer-
ence in Chongquin, China. “Diabetic
Limb Salvage basically involves pre-
venting a major amputation in people
with diabetes,” said Dauphinée.
Diabetes affects a large percentage of
Texas and is expected to grow to 4 mil-
lion Texans by 2020 and 8 million by
2040. Dr. Dauphinée spoke specifical-
ly about techniques used to surgically
correct external parts of the body that
have become deformed due to a condi-
tion called Charcot neuroarthropathy.
Charcot neuroarthropathy is the pro-
gressive destruction of bone and soft
tissues at weightbearing joints, most
commonly in the foot and ankle. Ac-
cording to Dr. Dauphinée, patients de-
velop neuropathy when their nerves in
the feet stop working and they become
completely numb. When this happens
the patients may easily cause trauma to
the joints without feeling it until they’ve
done irreparable damage. Many are
misdiagnosed with an infection, put on
antibiotics and allowed to put weight
on the joint, causing further damage
that can easily become infected and
eventually lead to amputation.
Dr. Damien M. Dauphinée, DPM,
FACFAS, FAENS, FACCWS, CWS-P,
has special training in the use of ex-
ternal fixation to h