Current surgery/drug combination treatment of diabetic gangrene of the foot.

Twenty-eight patients, 20 females and eight males (age 45-85 years) were treated for diabetic gangrene of the foot using a combination of surgery and intraarterial administration of prostaglandin F and cefotaxime. In 64% of the patients treated it was possible for the leg in question to be saved. We therefore consider intraarterial administration of cefotaxime in conjunction with prostaglandin E, and with simultaneous local surgery of the focal infection, to be a promising concept. Further studies, however, are necessary in order to establish whether the initial success can be consistently reproduced.