Corrective surgery in diabetic foot deformity.

Corrective surgery in the diabetic foot has been used increasingly in the past decade. Several benchmarking studies indicate that up to half of patients with Charcot deformity of the foot due to diabetes eventually undergo surgery, although most textbooks recommend lengthy conservative treatment. Surgical procedures reported in diabetic foot deformity are great toe amputation, metatarsal head resection/osteotomy, arthrodesis at different levels with a large variety of internal and external fixation techniques, and calcanectomy. The complication rate in this surgery is high. Most studies are small; all are retrospective. Well-controlled quality of life studies comparing alternative methods of treatment in Charcot foot deformity are almost entirely lacking. Copyright 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.