Clinical Profile and Early Outcomes of Patients With Diabetic Foot Ulcers Requiring Surgical Management: A Retrospective Observational Study

Background: Diabetic foot ulcers are an important complication of diabetes mellitus and can lead to soft-tissue infection, tissue necrosis, osteomyelitis and lower-limb amputation. Surgical management may be required for infected or non-healing ulcers, extensive tissue damage and other complications that cannot be managed adequately with conservative treatment alone.
Objective: To describe the clinical profile, surgical management and early outcomes of patients with diabetic foot ulcers treated at a tertiary-care hospital.
Materials and Methods: This retrospective observational study was planned in the Department of General Surgery at Governement Medical College, Vizianagaram over one year. The intended sample size was 40 patients. The supplied data table contained 39 patient records, but its numerical and binary columns were not labelled with diabetic-foot-specific variables. Consequently, the dataset requires verification before ulcer severity, surgical procedures or treatment outcomes can be analysed. The proposed assessment includes demographic characteristics, diabetes-related factors, ulcer location and severity, infection, peripheral arterial disease, surgical interventions and early postoperative outcomes.
Results: Thirty-nine patient rows were supplied for preliminary review. However, the available table did not identify ulcer characteristics, infection severity, the type of surgical intervention or postoperative outcome. Therefore, the frequencies of debridement, minor or major amputation, wound healing, surgical complications and mortality could not be determined reliably. The difference between the planned sample size and the number of supplied records also requires reconciliation.
Conclusion: A structured review of patients undergoing surgical treatment for diabetic foot ulcers may help characterize local patterns of presentation and early clinical outcomes. The final conclusions will depend on verification of the patient records and completion of the relevant clinical variables.