Successful Treatment of Recalcitrant, Diabetic Heel Ulcers with Topical Becaplermin (rhPDGF-BB) Gel

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-2002

Abstract

Diabetic foot ulceration is a major complication of diabetes mellitus.1–5 Among the 10 to 15 million diabetic patients, two to three percent will develop foot ulcers each year, and approximately 15 percent will develop foot ulcers during their lifetimes.4,6–8 The four percent of the US population with diagnosed diabetes mellitus constitute 46 percent of the approximately 162,500 annual hospitalizations for foot ulcers.4,7 Foot ulcers precede 85 percent of all nontraumatic, lower-limb amputations, and half of all nontraumatic, lower-limb amputations in the US are performed in persons with diabetes.2,7,9,10 It is estimated that patients with diabetes mellitus have as much as a 30- to 40-times higher risk of lower-limb amputations compared to the nondiabetic population.


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