Interventional therapy in diabetic foot: risk factors, clinical events and prognosis at one year follow-up (a study of 103 cases).

Diabetic foot is a common complication in diabetes mellitus course, able to increase the overall morbidity/mortality risk of such a disease. The aim was to investigate the outcomes, the incidence of clinical events, the number of recurrent ulcers in patients with diabetic foot during 1 year follow-up after angioplasty (PTA) revascularization. From January 2007 to August 2009, 103 diabetic patients with diabetic foot undergoing revascularization of a lower limb by PTA were recruited. At 1 year follow-up we assessed: "major" (death, stroke, Myocardial Infaction (MI) and "minor" (Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), renal failure, restenosis) events incidence; recurrent ulcers incidence; the predictive elements of all these events. At 1 year follow-up, "major"/"minor" events incidence was 15% (deaths: 5, stroke: 1, MI: 9%) and 34% (renal failure: 11, DVT: 9, restenosis: 14%), respectively. Obesity, high low density level-cholesterol levels and distal arterial lesions (at posterior tibial artery in particular) were statistically significantly associated with major events (p < 0.05); only obesity resulted statistically associated with minors (p = 0.043). High levels of C-reactive protein had a statistically significant relationship with the recurrence of ulcers (p = 0.006) while distal arterial obstructions showed a trend toward significance. To improve diabetic foot mortality and morbidity rate, our study underlines the importance of a prompt diagnosis and appropriate revascularization treatment. Other studies are needed to ascertain these.