Healing of leprosy-associated chronic plantar wounds with a novel biomembrane containing latex proteins from Calotropis procera.

Pre-clinical assays demonstrated that a 1% polyvinyl alcohol biomembrane containing latex proteins (10%) from the medicinal plant Calotropis procera was biocompatible and stimulated healing of incisional and excisional wounds in murine models, and the mechanistic aspects were established. The efficacy of the biomembrane (BioMemCpLP) to promote healing of chronic ulcers in leprosy patients was investigated. The study started with 28 volunteers. Five were excluded later due to different disconformities. Ulcers from 15 patients were continuously treated with BioMemCpLP for 56 days. Five patients were treated only with silver sulfadiazine and three patients received plain hydrocolloid wound dressings with high absorption capacity. In all cases, wound dressings were renewed three times a week for 56 days and ulcers were evaluated weekly for contraction and healing progress. The extent of the healed area in the ulcers treated with BioMemCpLP was greater than in the control groups. Approximately 88% of ulcers treated with BioMemCpLP were fully healed before day 56, against 6% in both control groups. This result was not correlated with age/gender, duration or location of ulcers, deformity or whether or not the patient was cured of leprosy. The results showed that BioMemCpLP was beneficial for treatment of ulcers suffered by leprosy patients without noticeable side effects.

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease presenting as a nonhealing ulcer in a 26-year-old man.

A 26-year-old man presented with a nonhealing ulcer on the plantar aspect of the left foot of five years duration. Initial investigations were unremarkable. It was only after careful neurological examination that an inherited neuropathy was suspected. This was confirmed by nerve conduction studies and serum electrophoresis. He subsequently underwent partial great toe amputation for the ulcer and underlying first phalangeal osteomyelitis with uneventful healing. Neuropathic ulcers are usually associated with several well-known disorders including diabetes mellitus, tabes dorsalis, pernicious anemia, and sickle cell disease. A rarer cause is Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease (CMTD). The report gives a review of CMTD and emphasizes that when faced with a nonhealing ulcer in the younger age group, such an underlying hereditary neuropathic cause must be considered.

Diabetes coexistent with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease presenting as a recurrent foot ulcer misdiagnosed as diabetic foot: A case report.

Both diabetes mellitus and Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) can lead to severe peripheral neuropathy. The differential diagnosis of peripheral neuropathy is difficult due to the similar clinical features. There are still some clues, such as unusual muscle atrophy, unmatched severity of peripheral neurogenic damage with nephropathy or retinopathy, which could alert clinicians to make differential diagnosis. Although diabetes mellitus is rarely concurrent with CMT, it will exacerbate clinical disorders in patients with CMT. To date, there is no specific medicine for CMT treatment. Offloading devices and desirable comprehensive management of diabetes mellitus might be beneficial to avoid plantar ulcer recurrence and anti-progression of CMT.

Ischemic Toe Ulceration Due to Foreign Body Embolus From Hydrophilic Polymer-Coated Intravascular Device.

Hydrophilic polymer coatings are now widely applied to catheters and other intravascular devices used in neurovascular, cardiovascular, and peripheral vascular procedures. Emboli consisting of these materials have been previously identified in biopsies and autopsies following pulmonary infarction, stroke, gangrene, or death. We report a case involving a nonhealing foot ulcer that appeared following cardiac catheterization, stenting, and automatic implanted cardiac defibrillator (AICD) implantation in a patient without other evidence of significant peripheral artery disease. An 85-year-old woman with chronic atrial fibrillation, aortic valve stenosis, and coronary artery disease underwent coronary stenting and AICD implantation for ventricular tachycardia and syncope. She developed a toe ulcer shortly thereafter, which did not respond to standard treatment. A histological examination following amputation of the toe found amorphous basophilic material in capillaries adjacent to the edge of the ulcer, which was similar to material associated with hydrophilic polymer coatings. Ischemia and infarcts following endovascular procedures should not be presumed to result from thrombus or vascular disease, even if intravascular devices appear intact or properly placed after the procedure. To help establish the incidence of ischemia caused by hydrophilic polymer device coatings, if excision of ischemic or infarcted tissue after endovascular procedures using coated devices becomes necessary, the tissue should be evaluated microscopically. Surgeons should also consider the tolerance of distal organs to infarct or ischemia when selecting coated intravascular devices.

Topical metronidazole for arterial insufficiency ulcers.

The use of topical metronidazole has been limited to the treatment of acne rosacea, infected foot ulcers associated with diabetes mellitus, varicose veins, postirradiation ulcers, and dental conditions since the Food and Drug Administration approved the drug in 1988. Because of this agent's apparent effectiveness in treating anaerobic bacterial infections in such ulcers, the authors believed that treatment of arterial insufficiency ulcers with a solution of topical metronidazole would be a rational approach. They describe a 30-year-old man in whom bilateral lower extremity cellulitis developed as a result of arterial insufficiency. The patient's ulcers were unresponsive to intravenously administered antibiotics and whirlpool therapy. However, when a topical solution of metronidazole was administered, the ulcers began to heal and epithelialization at the ulcer sites occurred. The authors review others' studies concerning clinical use of topical metronidazole and suggest that further study is warranted. To the authors' knowledge, topical metronidazole solution for the treatment of arterial insufficiency and venous stasis ulcers has not been previously reported.

Effects of caging type and animal source on the development of foot lesions in Sprague Dawley rats (Rattus norvegicus).

Retrospective analysis of data from a chronic (2-year) rat (Rattus norvegicus) carcinogenicity study was performed to compare the incidence of foot lesion development relative to cage type and animal supplier. Groups of rats from two different suppliers were housed in wire-bottom or polycarbonate cages. Clinical observations and body weights were collected. Data were analyzed to determine foot lesion occurrence, time to onset of foot lesions, and body weight change over time. Noteworthy abnormalities of the plantar surface of the hind foot (i.e., ulcers or nodular swellings) were more common in heavier rats than in lighter animals of the same sex (but different source), and abnormalities were more common in rats housed in wire cages than polycarbonate cages. However, despite differences in weight, cage type, and supplier, lesions were not found until the rats had been housed for more than 1 year.

[Respective evaluations of mechanical and vascular factors in the pathogenesis of neuroacropathy]. / Evaluations respectives des composantes mécanique et vasculaire dans la pathogénie des neuroacropathies.

The purpose of this study was to determine the respective contributions of microcirculatory dysfunction and mechanical stresses to the pathogenesis of neurogenic trophic lesions. All patients with polyneuropathy complicated by cutaneous or osteoarticular trophic lesions (perforating forefoot ulcers, neurogenic osteoarthropathy) were eligible for the study. Patients with vascular, articular or neurological disorders other than the polyneuropathy were excluded. Digital photoplethysmography was used to evaluate microcirculatory reactivity. Electronic podometry was performed for static and dynamic foot pressure studies. A technetium-99m bone scan was done to look for evidence of neurogenic osteoarthropathy. The study included 35 patients (16 with alcohol abuse, 7 with diabetes mellitus, 10 with both disorders, one with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, and one with neuropathy of unknown etiology). Cutaneous or osteoarticular trophic lesions were correlated with the presence of static podoscopic abnormalities (dynamic abnormalities apparently had no influence per se). Digital vasoplegia was found in 8 of 35 patients (23%) and was closely correlated (p < 0.0001) with severity of the osteoarthropathy. These data suggest that mechanical factors play the central role in the production of neurogenic trophic lesions and that microcirculatory dysfunction may be a marker for severe neurogenic osteoarthropathy rather than a causative factor.

Erythromelalgia presenting with premature exfoliation of primary teeth: a diagnostic dilemma.

Erythromelalgia is an extremely rare neurovascular disorder, characterized by symptoms of red, hot, and painful extremities. There is considerable confusion regarding the etiology and pathogenesis of this condition, and the diagnosis is essentially a clinical one. This condition may occur in isolation or in association with other myeloproliferative disorders. Unfortunately, no therapy is effective consistently in managing the symptoms, although early diagnosis can aid in psychological counseling and minimizing the frequency and severity of the attacks. The purpose of this report was to describe the case of a child presenting with premature loss of primary teeth and the difficulties in determining the final diagnosis of erythromelalgia, which responded positively to low-grade aspirin therapy.

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease due to a de novo mutation of the RAB7 gene.

We report a 32-year-old patient with Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT2B) including foot ulcerations. Genetic analysis identified a de novo mutation in the small GTP-ase late endosomal RAB7 gene, consisting of a c.471G>C, p.Lys157Asn missense mutation. This observation strongly supports the hypothesis that RAB7 mutations are responsible for CMT2B.

Silicone injection management of diabetic foot ulcers: a possible model for prevention of pressure ulcers.

Long-term clinical and histologic findings with injectable fluid silicone to reduce mechanical forces over plantar skin are described. The fluid induces a relatively stable soft tissue prosthesis between skin and bone, reducing the frequency of insensitive ulcer recurrence in the foot. On the basis of these favorable findings, studies are warranted to determine the fluid's efficacy in prevention of pressure ulcers.

An unusual case of pemphigus vulgaris presenting as bilateral foot ulcers.

We describe an unusual presentation of pemphigus vulgaris, an autoimmune intraepidermal blistering skin disease associated with autoantibodies to the desmosome glycoprotein, desmoglein 3. A 60-year-old man presented with bilateral ulceration on the dorsum of the feet. These clinical features persisted for 4 months before more characteristic signs of pemphigus vulgaris, including mouth ulceration and skin erosions, developed. The atypical presentation led to a delay in diagnosis and initiation of the appropriate treatment. Pemphigus vulgaris may have unusual manifestations, such as nail dystrophy, paronychia, or granulation tissue-like lesions, but this case of bilateral foot ulceration highlights a further, perhaps unique, clinical presentation of this autoimmune disease.

A new flap design: neural-island flap.

This report introduces the "neural-island flap" concept, which represents a consistent and reliable skin flap design supplied only by the intrinsic vasculature of a cutaneous nerve. In this study, the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve was selected as the pedicle of the neural-island flap, and a standard skin flap, which is the territory of the accompanying vessels (i.e., iliac branches of the iliolumbar artery and vein), was elevated on the lower dorsal region of the rats. In a total of 92 Wistar rats, three experiments were performed. In part I (n = 24), the vascular anatomy of the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve was established by the methods of dissection, microangiography, nerve mapping, perfusion with colored latex and India ink, and histologic analysis. In part II (n = 46), the role of the cutaneous nerve in supporting an acutely elevated skin flap was explored by creating five flap groups as follows: group 1, conventional flap (artery, vein, and nerve intact); group 2, neural island flap (only the nerve intact); group 3, neurocutaneous flap (vein and nerve intact); group 4, denervated flap (artery and vein intact); and group 5, skin graft. In part III (n = 22), the role of a preliminary surgical delay procedure to augment the survival of the neural island flap was investigated. Results of the anatomic studies indicated a consistent perineural vasculature by the accompanying iliolumbar artery. Skin flaps survived totally in groups where the artery and vein were intact, whereas mean survival rates for the neural island flap and the neurocutaneous flap were 38.2 +/- 3.1 percent and 44.5 +/- 3.8 percent, respectively (p > 0.05). Results of part III of the experiment demonstrated a significantly higher survival for the delayed neural island flap (94.5 +/- 5.5 percent) compared with the acutely elevated neural island flap (p < 0.05). The perineural and intraneural vessels were found to be greatly dilated after a delay procedure, demonstrated by direct observation, microangiography, histologic analysis, dye injection study, and scanning electron microscopy. On the basis of this promising series of experiments, a clinical technique was developed using the sural neural-island flap. The flap was used to reconstruct lower extremity defects in four cases. A delay procedure was accomplished in the first stage by elevating a fasciocutaneous flap from the midcalf region based on a posterior skin bridge and the sural nerve. After a 2-week delay period, a sural neural-island flap was created based on the nerve and transposed to the defect. Flap survival was complete in all cases, with a satisfactory result. The authors conclude that this report proves for the first time that a robust and reliable skin flap can be created pedicled only by the intrinsic vasculature of a cutaneous nerve, after a proper surgical delay. The so-created neural-island flap design offers two novel advantages: (1) a very narrow pedicle and (2) a pedicle without any restriction to a specific pivot point, in addition to the previously described unique advantages of preservation of a major artery and avoidance of microvascular anastomoses.