Podiatry Today Current Issue

Study Points To Increase Of Melanoma Among Young Women

admin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:01:48 -0400

Melanoma incidence has been on the rise in Caucasians, especially women, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. Researchers speculate that this may be due to increasing ultraviolet ray exposure.
The authors analyzed Caucasian patients in the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program between 1973 and 2004. Researchers calculated annual age-adjusted incidence and mortality rates of invasive cutaneous melanoma among men and women ages 15 to 39.

Have Endovascular Advances Reinvented Limb Salvage Expectations?

admin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:01:48 -0400

In the early 1980s, LoGerfo opened the window of limb salvage in critical stages of diabetic atherosclerosis by fighting the misconception of microangiopathy that had previously prevented attempts to bypass arterial lesions in diabetic foot.¹ He produced evidence that revascularization of distal diabetic arterial occlusions can be successful. This evidence in turn gave a fundamental push to expand and improve techniques of distal bypass.^2,3

Key Insights On Treating Chronic Venous Ulcers

admin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:01:48 -0400

Patients with venous ulcers can face daunting complications. Accordingly, our expert panelists provide pertinent pearls on diagnosis, compression therapy, debridement and how their patients have fared with vascular surgery procedures.

Q: How do you approach/work up the patient with a chronic venous ankle ulcer? Is there any need for venous ultrasound studies?

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Practical Keys To Improving Fluency In Foot And Ankle Surgery

admin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:01:48 -0400

Learning and performing effective surgery is akin to studying and speaking a foreign language. Not every one does so with the same fluency. The patient often does not speak a single word. Anatomy is the vocabulary, surgical procedure selection is the syntax and some aspects like verb conjugation and internal fixation sequences simply have to be committed to memory.

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How To Treat Turf Toe Injuries

admin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:01:48 -0400

Turf toe is primarily considered a sprain of the first metatarsophalangeal joint (MPJ). The mechanism of turf toe injuries is a hyperextension of the first MPJ, which results in a sprain of the plantar joint capsule or a potential tear or rupture of the plantar capsule and ligaments.
Common forefoot injuries similar in presentation to turf toe are non-specific trauma, Freiberg’s infraction, sesamoiditis, arthritis and soft tissue injury.

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A Closer Look At Motor Neuropathy In Patients With Diabetes

admin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:01:48 -0400

Although commonly present in the patient with diabetes mellitus, motor neuropathy frequently goes undetected. Less dramatic in presentation than sensory neuropathy, the presence of motor deficit secondary to diabetic neuropathy is frequently not evaluated during examination and subsequently goes unrecognized. There is also not a great deal of literature regarding the effects of diabetes on motor function in the lower extremity. As a result, the effects of motor neuropathy on the foot and ankle frequently go unappreciated.
Motor neuropathy in diabetes is common. A recent electrophysiologic stu

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Acellular Orthobiologics: Can They Improve Wound Healing?

admin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:01:48 -0400

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced that diabetes now affects nearly 24 million people in the United States. Foot ulcers will affect up to 25 percent of people with diabetes during their lifetime.¹ People with diabetes have a 30-fold higher lifetime risk of undergoing a lower extremity amputation in comparison to those without diabetes.² A foot ulcer precedes a lower extremity amputation 85 percent of the time.³
Diabetic foot problems are a major burden to society and come at great costs to the healthcare system. Prevention of fo

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Injectable Silicone: Can It Mitigate Plantar Pedal Pressure?

admin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:01:49 -0400

Ambulation exposes the foot to a collaboration of focal pressure and repetitive stress, and ground reaction forces generated in response to weightbearing activities are the commonly responsible stressors.¹
The portion of the foot in contact with the ground varies during the stance phase of gait. Accordingly, the site of ground reaction force application varies, generally progressing from the heel at first contact to the hallux at toe-off.²
These forces contain vertical, anteroposterior and mediolateral components. However, the vertical force is much greater than the o

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How To Market Your Practice On The Internet

admin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:01:49 -0400

As we draw closer to the close of the century’s first decade, we see that technology is more ubiquitous than ever as it reaches into virtually every aspect of our lives and businesses. Nowhere is this more apparent or relevant than in medical practices, which have opened themselves to the Web in everything from billing to dispensing and prescriptions.
Marketing a practice on the Web is possibly the most widely used application of Internet technology. One essential reason justifies the creation and maintenance of a practice Web site: patients expect it.

“It is a critical part of running

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Hammertoe Surgery: Can Emerging Advances In Fixation Have An Impact?

admin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:01:49 -0400

The treatment of painful hammertoes has dramatically changed in the past several years. What used to be a troubling and often difficult problem to correct has improved to the point that correction is consistent and there is far less pain and difficulty with the return to full function.
Accordingly, let us take a closer look at a treatment algorithm for the treatment of hammertoes and associated problems.
The underlying cause of hammertoes is not fully understood but the general thinking is quite simple. There is a noted imbalance between the stability of the flexor and extensor tendon funct

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