Greetings from the Southern Arizona Limb Salvage Alliance (SALSA). Joseph Mills, MD, and I recently did an interview with one of our professional magazines and we were reflecting on the unique nature of the diabetic foot. The diabetic foot is at the end of what I refer to as an “anatomic peninsula.” For that reason, the diabetic foot is hostage to the supply from the “anatomic mainland.”

We are currently working on 23 research projects evenly distributed between industry, not-for-profit and federal funding. During the interview, I started to describe the tremendously diverse topics on which we are fortunate enough to work. These projects include investigation of:

* fancy arch supports;
* computer-designed shoes;
* collagen that is woven on a loom to intelligent textiles;
* super strong Tinkertoy-like fixation devices;
* chemotherapeutics;
* new fangled vascular conduits;
* superbugs; and
* stem cells.

I realized that this diversity, in a way, forms a union. Each project's ultimate goal is to prevent the diabetic foot from getting “cut off” from the mainland.

That is our thought for the day from SALSA. Our prevailing goal is to prevent the rising tide of amputation from washing over our peninsula. There is enough work for all of us. Indeed, there is power in a (diabetic foot) union.

Editor’s note: This blog was adapted with permission from where it originally appeared at http://diabeticfootonline.blogspot.com/2009/09/labor-day-on-pedal-peninsula.html.