New research indicates an increase in temperature on the foot of a diabetic can be a sign of a developing ulcer that could lead to amputation. However, diabetics can prevent foot ulcers and their complications by monitoring the temperature of their feet with a special, user-friendly thermometer.
The thermometer, called TempTouch and developed by Xilas Medical, costs about $150, and uses an infrared tip that digitally measures skin temperature on contact.
In a government-funded study of 225 diabetic veterans, the thermometer reduced by two-thirds the number of high-risk patients who developed foot ulcers.
The thermometer works by measuring the small variations in temperature between different parts of the foot, between the right middle toe and the left, for example. These small temperature differentiations occur days before the skin breaks with an ulcer.
To monitor foot temperature, diabetics would measure several spots on each foot. When the thermometer finds a hot spot, the patient would elevate their feet for about a day until the temperature returns to normal. This reduces pressure and allows the body to heal more easily that it otherwise would if the skin had cracked.
Over half a million diabetics are stricken with foot ulcers each year, but some fail to even notice the ulcers because the diabetes has numbed their feet. Once they develop, foot ulcers heal slowly, and are susceptible to infections. These complications are responsible for approximately 80,000 amputations of toes, feet and lower legs each year.
With the TempTouch, diabetics can detect hot spots in both feet and allow the temperature to normalize before the skin cracks and become a full-blown wound.
“A wound really will heat up before it breaks down,” said Dr. David Armstrong of Chicago’s Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, a diabetic foot specialist, in an Associated Press article. “Heat is one of the most sensitive things, one of the first things that happens when we begin to have tissue breakdown,”
In addition to developing the handheld TempTouch thermometer, Xilas Medical has received a National Institutes of Health grant to make a new version of the thermometer that would resemble a bathroom scale. The new thermometer would automatically measure skin temperature on the bottom of patients’ feet and immediately alert the patient of any trouble spots.
However, availability of the scale-like thermometer is still a few years out, and for now the TempTouch can only be obtained with a prescription.
An estimated 21 million people have diabetes. Complications include damaged blood vessels and nerves from years of uncontrolled, high glucose levels. This damage often leads to poor lower body circulation and loss of sensation in the feet, both of which contribute to the development of foot ulcers.
Prevention has traditionally been difficult, with patients using visual inspection and wearing proper fitting shoes in an attempt to avert foot ulcers.
Dr. Theresa Jones, who leads research on diabetes complications at the National Institutes of Health, told Associated Press that while the study results are compelling, larger studies should be included to prove the long-term benefit.
The study was funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs and published in last month’s American Journal of Medicine.
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