The Analysis of the Diabetic Foot Osteomyelitis at a Tertiary Care Center - A Prospective Study

Abstract

INTRODUCTION:India is considered as the diabetic capital of the world. Diabetic foot osteomyelitis is considered as one of the severe complications of diabetes mellitus. Diabetic foot osteomyelitis tends to complicate around one third of diabetic foot infections. In view of this we conducted a prospective study on the bacteriological analysis of diabetic foot osteomyelitis at a tertiary care center. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective study was performed at a tertiary care hospital in India. 78 Diabetic patients with foot ulcers were recruited in the study during the year June 2013 to November 2014 after obtaining written informed consent. All subjects underwent detailed clinical examination. Foot x-ray was done and cases which showed evidence of osteomyelitis were chosen for the study. Swab/tissue samples after debriding the wound were collected aseptically from the wound site and sent for blood culture, isolation and identification of bacteria. Antibiotic sensitivity tests for the isolated bacteria were performed by disc diffusion method against commonly used antibiotics. RESULTS: In our study we found that most diabetic foot infections with osteomyelitis occur after 10 years of the onset of diabetes mellitus, most belonged to age group 41 to 50yrs. Altogether 86 bacteria were isolated from 54 cases. Among 82 bacterial isolates, 54 (63 %) were Gram negative. CONCLUSION: Diabetic foot osteomyelitis are caused majority by gram negative bacteria, followed by gram positive organism.