Diabetic Foot Unit

The Diabetic Foot Unit is located on the third floor of the hospital (elevator 7 and stairwell F). It is made up of an inpatient section with 28 beds, an outpatient clinic, and an interventional radiology (IR) service. All of the rooms on the inpatient ward are equipped with air conditioning and internal bathrooms. The unit is part of the “Foot & Ankle Clinic” Department which is in collaboration with the Foot and Ankle Surgery Ward.

The team of the Diabetic Foot Unit consists of specialists in diabetology, vascular surgery, orthopedics, radiology, internal medicine, and geriatrics. All of these are part of a larger team made up of graduates in podiatry, orthopedic technicians, and nurses specialized in the treatment of skin (cutaneous) lesions. The Unit for the Prevention and Treatment of Diabetic Foot has long been internationally recognized as one of the most avantgarde centers in the treatment of this destructive complication linked to diabetes and can boast impressive numbers regarding cases seen. Every year about 1,200 patients are admitted to hospital for complications in the lower limbs due to diabetes mellitus, 1,000 endoluminal revascularizations are done by angioplasty for critical peripheral ischemia, and 22,000 outpatient screening examinations are performed for at risk patients of acute ulcerrelated lesions. Patients are checked for pathologies relating to the lower limbs. However, since this is a marker for more complex cardiovascular diseases, the disease evaluation has been extended in recent times to ischemic cardiopathy (heart disease). This is one of the main risk factors for mortality in these patients.

All of the pathologies connected to diabetic foot complications which present themselves as ulcers (ischemic or infectious) are treated in this ward. In particular, both infectious and ischemic acute foot disease can be treated with emergency surgery by an on-call surgeon, 24 hours a day.

All chronic diseases, from foot ulcers to osteomyelitis, to conservative and surgical treatment of Charcot's neuroarthropathy, are areas of extreme interest within the unit. Recently, a new technique was developed for the revascularization of diabetic foot which allows doctors, in most cases, to avoid amputating.