The new prognostic-therapeutic index – an easy method of establishing surgical indication in the pathology of the diabetic foot

UNLABELLED HYPOTHESIS AND AIM: The large number of invalidating surgical interventions in patients suffering from lesions of the diabetic foot, the late recognition of the lesions and sometimes the wrongful interpretation of their severity, have made necessary a multi-parameter study of these types of patients and the elaboration of a therapeutic-prognostic index to guide the physician in adopting the adequate method of treatment. Starting with the therapeutic-prognostic index imagined by professor Traian Patrascu, we have elaborated a new therapeutic prognostic index, by adding new, statistically significant parameters, for the purpose of facilitating the surgical indication, depending on the lesion type. METHODS A number of 929 patients who were admitted at the Surgery Clinic of the "Dr. I. Cantacuzino" Hospital, between January 2013 and June 2014, have been analyzed, of whom 450 were evaluated retrospectively and 479 prospectively. RESULTS The new therapeutic prognostic index has been calculated for the retrospective lot, resulting into a concordance between the actual surgical intervention and the prognostic index of 79.4% and, for the patients evaluated prospectively, we have found a confirmation of the relation of 82.6% between the performed surgical intervention and the forecasted surgical intervention, by calculating the index. DISCUSSION The new therapeutic-prognostic index represents an easy method of establishing the therapeutic conduct of the patient suffering from lesions of the diabetic foot. It is of major use in preventing the execution of such surgical interventions that may be disproportionate compared to the severity of the lesions, especially in facilities where the pathology of the diabetic foot is less known.