IN A diabetic patient, sooner or later, the blood vessels to the legs will be damaged by the disease.
This will lead to poor blood supply to the legs and, in turn, to poor wound healing if a wound occurs in the legs.
Without adequate nutrition and oxygen, the wound will become infected; this will only get worse until the legs become gangrenous and have to be amputated.
Using maggots to clear a dirty wound is just one of the methods available to clean a wound ("Maggots saving more patients' limbs in hospitals"; Tuesday).
If the poor blood circulation is not treated at the same time, no amount of maggot therapy will save a leg that is starved of nutrition and oxygen.
In patients who have undergone maggot therapy, and the wound heals, it does not mean that the limbs are saved from being amputated, if nothing is done to improve the blood circulation, by whatever means.
Maggot therapy solves only part of the problem. It can clean dirty wounds, but it is not the magic bullet to save diabetic limbs from amputation without improving blood circulation.
Tan Soon Kiam (Dr)
This will lead to poor blood supply to the legs and, in turn, to poor wound healing if a wound occurs in the legs.
Without adequate nutrition and oxygen, the wound will become infected; this will only get worse until the legs become gangrenous and have to be amputated.
Using maggots to clear a dirty wound is just one of the methods available to clean a wound ("Maggots saving more patients' limbs in hospitals"; Tuesday).
If the poor blood circulation is not treated at the same time, no amount of maggot therapy will save a leg that is starved of nutrition and oxygen.
In patients who have undergone maggot therapy, and the wound heals, it does not mean that the limbs are saved from being amputated, if nothing is done to improve the blood circulation, by whatever means.
Maggot therapy solves only part of the problem. It can clean dirty wounds, but it is not the magic bullet to save diabetic limbs from amputation without improving blood circulation.
Tan Soon Kiam (Dr)
