Conservative surgical treatment for metatarsal osteomyelitis in diabetic foot: experience of two French centres.

AIMS: Conservative surgery (CS) for diabetic foot osteomyelitis (DFO) consists in removing all or part of the infected bone tissues without amputation, in complement with antibiotic therapy. Data on CS for DFO therapy are scarce. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of all DFO episodes treated with CS between 06/2007 and 12/2017. Remission was defined by the absence of soft-tissue infection, complete sustained (i.e. > 1 month) healing of the foot ulcer, favourable (i.e., stabilisation or improvement) radiological outcome, and no need for additional surgery during a 1-year follow-up. RESULTS: During the study period, 47 episodes (in 41 patients) were analysed. Excluding deaths (all unrelated to the DFO; n = 3) or loss to follow-up before 1 year (n = 5), the remission rate was 64.2%. Most failures occurred during the first 6 months (79%, 11/14). Patients who experienced failure had a higher rate of peripheral arterial disease with arterial stenosis than patients in remission (57% vs. 24%, P = 0.03), a higher C-reactive protein rate at admission (116 ± 112 mg/L vs. 48 ± 46 mg/L, P = 0.02), and a trend for a higher rate of abscesses (29% vs. 4%, P = 0.06). At 1-year follow-up, foot ulcers related to transfer lesion were identified in 25.5% of the cases. At the last follow-up (mean 3 ± 2 years), the remission rate was 23/25 (92%). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that CS is a therapeutic option in patients with localised but severe DFO. Clinicians should, however, consider the necessity of revascularisation, and higher risk of failure if surgery is performed in patients presenting with acute foot infections.

Six-week versus twelve-week antibiotic therapy for nonsurgically treated diabetic foot osteomyelitis: a multicenter open-label controlled randomized study.

OBJECTIVE: Little is known about the optimal duration of antibiotic therapy for diabetic foot osteomyelitis (DFO). This study sought to compare the effectiveness of 6 versus 12 weeks of antibiotic therapy in patients with DFO treated nonsurgically (i.e., antibiotics alone). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: This was a prospective randomized trial comparing 6- versus 12-week duration of antibiotic treatment. Remission of osteomyelitis during the monitoring period was defined as complete and persistent (>4 weeks) healing of the wound (if present initially), absence of recurrent infection at the initial site or that of adjacent rays, and no need for surgical bone resection or amputation at the end of a follow-up period of at least 12 months after completion of antibiotic treatment. RESULTS: Forty patients followed at five French general hospitals were randomized between January 2007 and January 2009, with 20 treated for 6 weeks and 20 treated for 12 weeks with antibiotics. The two groups were comparable for all variables recorded at inclusion in the study. Remission was obtained in 26 (65%) patients, with no significant differences between patients treated for 6 versus 12 weeks (12/20 vs. 14/20, respectively; P = 0.50). We did not identify any significant parameters associated with patient outcome. Fewer patients treated for 6 weeks experienced gastrointestinal adverse events related to antimicrobial therapy compared with patients treated for 12 weeks (respectively, 15 vs. 45%; P = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: The present multicenter prospective randomized study provides data suggesting that 6-week duration of antibiotic therapy may be sufficient in patients with DFO for whom nonsurgical treatment is considered.

How to diagnose a lipodystrophy syndrome.

The spectrum of adipose tissue diseases ranges from obesity to lipodystrophy, and is accompanied by insulin resistance syndrome, which promotes the occurrence of type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia and cardiovascular complications. Lipodystrophy refers to a group of rare diseases characterized by the generalized or partial absence of adipose tissue, and occurs with or without hypertrophy of adipose tissue in other sites. They are classified as being familial or acquired, and generalized or partial. The genetically determined partial forms usually occur as Dunnigan syndrome, which is a type of laminopathy that can also manifest as muscle, cardiac, neuropathic or progeroid involvement. Gene mutations encoding for PPAR-gamma, Akt2, CIDEC, perilipin and the ZMPSTE 24 enzyme are much more rare. The genetically determined generalized forms are also very rare and are linked to mutations of seipin AGPAT2, FBN1, which is accompanied by Marfan syndrome, or of BANF1, which is characterized by a progeroid syndrome without insulin resistance and with early bone complications. Glycosylation disorders are sometimes involved. Some genetically determined forms have recently been found to be due to autoinflammatory syndromes linked to a proteasome anomaly (PSMB8). They result in a lipodystrophy syndrome that occurs secondarily with fever, dermatosis and panniculitis. Then there are forms that are considered to be acquired. They may be iatrogenic (protease inhibitors in HIV patients, glucocorticosteroids, insulin, graft-versus-host disease, etc.), related to an immune system disease (sequelae of dermatopolymyositis, autoimmune polyendocrine syndromes, particularly associated with type 1 diabetes, Barraquer-Simons and Lawrence syndromes), which are promoted by anomalies of the complement system. Finally, lipomatosis is currently classified as a painful form (adiposis dolorosa or Dercum's disease) or benign symmetric multiple form, also known as Launois-Bensaude syndrome or Madelung's disease, which are sometimes related to mitochondrial DNA mutations, but are usually promoted by alcohol. In addition to the medical management of metabolic syndrome and the sometimes surgical treatment of lipodystrophy, recombinant leptin provides hope for genetically determined lipodystrophy syndromes, whereas modifications in antiretroviral treatment and tesamorelin, a GHRH analog, is effective in the metabolic syndrome of HIV patients. Other therapeutic options will undoubtedly be developed, dependent on pathophysiological advances, which today tend to classify genetically determined lipodystrophy as being related to laminopathy or to lipid droplet disorders.