Without physically examining Doctor saves leg amputation in lockdown period through online consultation patients having 26 years of Diabetes history and undergone one leg amputation.
Mumbai – Diabetic patients in India are caught between a rock and a hard place in the face of the ongoing global pandemic COVID-19.
On the one hand, Diabetic patients are at risk of developing severe complications from COVID-19 because of their low immunity, and should ideally lessen the exposure to the external world while the virus is active and numbers of patients are increasing in Mumbai & Thane rapidly. Considering this factor Dr. Jaydeep Shinde Diabetologist consultant has started online consultation for their patients from March 15 onwards in their Thane My Diabetic Clinic and started online consultation to their patients in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai & Thane regularly. In this lockdown period, Dr. Jaydeep Shinde has saved right leg amputation through online consultation of a 52 year old Male Patient from Thane having 26 years of Diabetes history and also had undergone Left Leg amputation.
Commenting on this successful case Dr. Jaydeep Shinde said, “This patient was having uncontrolled Blood sugar, when he came to us his Fasting sugars were 310 & Post Lunch sugars were 595, he also had undergone Left Leg amputation below knee 1.5 years back & now he had a very Bad Diabetic foot ulcer on right leg Great toe. He was advised somewhere else to undergo immediate right foot amputation or else he would be risking his life. After understanding his diabetic history we revised his treatment of Blood sugars & gave him very aggressive treatment for faster reduction of sugar along with it we gave him Broad-spectrum antibiotics & we did a specialized dressing every 2 days under my strict supervision & his right foot was offloaded but giving him complete bed rest at home. Within a week’s time, the wound was healed almost 90% & after 3 weeks, Patient was walking on his foot with a completely healed foot. We at My Diabetes Clinic have a team of specialized dressers who do home visits at the patient’s residence every 2 days & sends me images every time. The wound that we treated was very deep luckily it was not touching the bone. His Blood sugar after 3 weeks was Fasting Blood sugar 110 & Post lunch sugar 148, he also had some kidney problems as well which was also better after 3 weeks. We are happy that we could salvage his foot & evade amputation even without examining the patient through Video and chat consultation. Foot amputation due to diabetic foot can be prevented in 90 percent of cases with proper education and timely treatments.”
India has the largest Diabetics patient population and it is estimated that 80 million people will have diabetes in our country by 2030. Like high blood sugar, high blood glucose levels cause damage to the blood vessels of the heart, eyes, kidney and brain and subsequently narrow the nerves and blood vessels of the extremities, especially the lower limbs. In fact, diabetic foot ulcers pose a larger threat preceding more than 80 % of non-traumatic lower limb amputation. Every 30 seconds a lower limb is lost due to diabetes globally. In India, more than 1.5 lakh leg amputations occur every year due to diabetes-related problems as per medical reports