(From left) Veteran James Pauley, who is set to receive a Podimetrics Mat at McGuire VA Medical Center, with Dr. Jonathan Brantley, chief of podiatry, and a Podimetrics representative (Photo courtesy Megan Kon, McGuire VA Medical Center)
The simple act of taking a person's temperature may help prevent an amputation in someone with diabetes.
A spike in temperature in a foot can be a precursor to a diabetic foot ulcer, a condition that occurs in about 15% of diabetics. Ulcers can become hard to treat and may lead to an amputation: About 14% to 24% of diabetics with foot ulcers eventually require an amputation, according to the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA).
Diabetics may experience neuropathy, nerve damage that causes loss of feeling in a foot, making someone unable to feel an ulcer. Motion may be limited by other health factors, so they are unable to check out the bottom of a foot, according to the APMA. Monitoring foot health can help prevent ulcers and other inflammatory conditions.
Now, veterans who receive treatment at the Hunter Holmes McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center and 14 other VA centers have access to a tool that may help them avoid the serious complications that can result from foot ulcers.
The Podimetrics Mat checks and monitors foot temperatures and is used at home. A patient stands on it for 20 seconds, and the device uses a camera for thermal imaging, sending its readings to the company. The mats may detect temperature changes indicative of ulcer formation as much as five weeks before symptoms generally appear, according to the VA. That allows doctors to begin treatments that may head off infections and other complications, according to a release.
“I think it’s a very effective device in at least warning you that there could be issues that you want to get looked at,” says Dr. Jonathan Brantley, chief of podiatry for McGuire.
The devices are being used by five patients at McGuire, but they will be rolled out to others. Brantley says the mats are to be used daily by the veterans and that the readings are monitored by the company, with information forwarded to McGuire if readings are of a concern, generally when they are elevated 2.2 degrees centigrade over expected temperature over 48 hours. He says he has requested that readings be forwarded to him each day.
“It’s a new device, so I want to monitor them,” he says.
Brantley says he was skeptical at first regarding the mats, but his fears were allayed after he received readings from one patient who had an elevated foot temperature, and he was able to determine that the higher temperature came from playing golf in spiked shoes and not an ulcer.
The mat is part of a VA treatment model, Prevention of Amputations in Veterans Everywhere.
“[The] VA is uniquely situated to tackle this problem systemically, using innovative clinical care models and cutting-edge technology to improve the health and wellness of veterans,” says Suzanne Shirley, entrepreneur in residence for McGuire and the Central Virginia VA Health Care System, in the release. Leading the effort to distribute the mats to VA medical facilities in Virginia and North Carolina, she says that the technology will help prevent limb loss and save lives. She also says the mat and the program empower veterans to take some control over their health.
“With the use of this technology,” Shirley says, “veterans have the opportunity to participate in the daily monitoring of their feet from home, and the results are incredible.”
