An untreated or undiagnosed diabetic foot can compromise the life of a patient

According to the Spanish Diabetes Society, this disease affects 15% of the population, which means that 1 in every 7 people suffer from it. The diabetic foot is a severe complication of diabetes that can have dramatic consequences if it is not properly treated. Doctor Fernando Gallardo, Head of the Angiology and Vascular Surgery Unit of Quirónsalud Marbella Hospital states that "there are three factors that can determine its onset, i.e. nerve damage caused by high levels of sugar in the blood; arterial obstruction and consequently the decrease in the blood flow to the lower limbs; and infections that can be hard to treat, precisely due to poor blood circulation and a reduced potential to heal".

Optimal foot care is fundamental for any treatment to succeed and, especially, adopting a hygiene routine to ensure feet stay clean, dry and hydrated as well as the daily check for lesions or blisters. Our Doctor explains that "it is also essential to have a firm control over diabetes, keeping the blood sugar levels under control in order to avoid long-term complications".

Doctor Gallardo assures that the consequences of failing to timely treat a diabetic foot can be very severe as "the ulcers caused are not usually painful, but they are hard to heal to the point that the infection can spread to the tissues and if it spreads internally, it can put the patient’s life at risk by developing into septic shock". Surgery can have a crucial role in the treatment of a diabetic foot in specific situations where the dead or infected tissue is removed, abscesses are drained or the accumulated pus is removed from an infected cavity.

In extreme cases deriving from delayed treatment, it may be necessary to amputate the foot, the leg or one or several toes, as a way to stop the infection and preserve the patient’s life. In the opinion of our Doctor, the majority of these amputations "could be prevented". Our specialist of the Angiology and Vascular Surgery Unit assures that the revascularisation process aimed at the improvement of the blood flow (by means of angioplasty, stent placement or surgical bypass) is a technique with extraordinary results.

In this sense, the success cases performed at our Marbella Hospital have led to the creation of a pioneering international programme led by Doctor Mariano Palena and known as "Marbella Limb Savage Academy - Stop Amputations"which has managed to reduce the number of amputations due to diabetic foot, and save and recover the function of the limb in complex cases.

Specialists from other national and international establishments frequently visit our hospital to become familiarised with the advanced techniques and technologies (infrapopliteal angioplasty and angioplasty of the distal arteries of the foot) being implemented in this Unit of our hospital.