Team-based diabetic foot care could slash major amputations, Myongji doctors say

Physicians at Myongji Hospital in South Korea said a multidisciplinary approach to diabetic foot disease could sharply reduce major amputations. The hospital presented the model at its first Diabetic Foot Clinic Multidisciplinary Symposium, emphasizing that diabetic foot complications often require coordinated management of infection, blood flow, wound reconstruction, rehabilitation, and follow-up care rather than treatment by a single specialty.

Jeong Sang-jin, professor of orthopedic surgery, said diabetic foot and lower-extremity infections may affect up to one in three people with diabetes. He also noted the severity of outcomes after major amputation: among patients who lose a limb above the ankle, five-year mortality can reach 70 percent. In contrast, Jeong said multidisciplinary care processes in which specialists jointly evaluate patients and decide treatment strategies can bring major amputation rates down to around 10 percent.

The article also described the roles of several specialties. Yoon Jung-soo, professor of plastic surgery, highlighted microsurgical reconstruction to restore blood flow and support wound healing. Kim In-byeong, professor of emergency medicine, discussed hyperbaric oxygen therapy as a tool that may promote new vessel formation, reduce inflammation, suppress infection, and aid tissue repair. Park Yong-man, professor of surgery, stressed early vascular assessment and revascularization, noting that about half of patients with diabetic foot ulcers also have peripheral artery disease and that studies report 80-85 percent limb-salvage rates at 12 months after revascularization. Myongji’s program links plastic surgery, orthopedics, endocrinology, cardiology, surgery, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy into one care pathway.