Comparison Between Conservative and Operative Management of Diabetic Foot Having Bone Involvement

Abstract

Objective: To compare the efficacy of conservative and operative management of diabetic foot having bone involvement. Study Design: Quasi-experimental study. Place and Duration of study: Combined Military Hospital, Rawalpindi Pakistan, from May to Dec 2022. Methodology: The study included all the patients with neuropathic diabetic foot ulcers worsened by bone involvement/osteomyelitis. All the included patients were divided randomly into two equal groups, A and B (Conservative and Operative Management Groups, respectively). They were followed up for the study period to assess the healing of the wound. All the participants of the study were given antibiotics. Outcome measures were the proportion of patients achieving primary wound healing, hospitalization time, and wound healing time. Results: In our study, we included 302 patients, amongst which 206(68.20%) were male subjects and 96(31.80%) were female subjects. The mean age was 33.89±7.57 years. The proportion of patients achieving primary wound healing in the Conservative Management-Group was 121(80.13%), and in the Operative Management-Group, it was 132(87.42%) (p=0.086). However, the difference between the duration of hospitalization and the time of wound healing was statistically insignificant (p-values of 0.199 and 0.538, respectively). Conclusion: Conservative management with antibiotics alone may be a good alternative to operative management, avoiding surgical complications and costs.