INDIA SURGEON RECONSTRUCTS ANKLE BONES
India has the dubious distinction of having more than 63 million people living with diabetes, according to Shobha Shukla, writing for Citizen News Service. India is second only to China in the number of people living with diabetes which, being a disease of the blood vessels, often results in destroyed hind foot bones.
While osteomyelitis in the diabetic foot can vary from 18% to 68%, the diabetic foot is also prone to Charcot’s osteoarthropathy—a severe complication of diabetes which leads to soft and brittle foot and ankle bones. Both of these conditions can result in the destruction or excision of foot bones and in amputation of the infected part. Shukla writes that an estimated 50,000 amputations occur every year in India due to diabetes-related foot problems.
Enter diabetic lower limb and foot and ankle reconstructive surgeon Professor Ajit Kumar Varma, M.D. of the Department of Endocrinology and Podiatric Surgery at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), Kochi, Kerala. This is the only center in India where a new type of reconstructive and corrective foot and ankle surgery is being performed in large numbers in high-risk diabeti...
