A patch to help heal diabetic foot ulcer
For people with diabetes , perfect foot hygiene is essential. Indeed, a diabetic’s nightmare is a foot ulcer. This often leads to amputation. What if now, a simple patch could considerably improve the healing of foot ulcers?
A team of researchers from Stanford University in California (USA) have created a new transdermal patch and presented the results to the clinical congress of the American College of Surgeons (1) .
How this drug patch works
To understand how this new drug works, let’s first explain the consequences of diabetes on blood circulation. Diabetes partly blocks the blood vessels. Blood flow helps in wound healing. If this is altered, the healing process is also altered, leading, in the same way, to a loss of sensitivity. The genes helping the formation of tiny blood vessels helping healing are no longer activated. Indeed, the protein responsible for this activation, called H1F-1α, does not work well (2) .
The researchers focused on the dysfunction of this protein. Indeed, they first found a drug that would increase the production of this protein in diabetics. But problem. The molecule of this drug is too large to pass through the skin properly. It was therefore necessary to consider another mode of administration of the drug. So they created a transdermal patch.
The patch has therefore been tested in vitro on human skin. The results are encouraging. These showed that the tissues have 14-day accelerated healing . The patch also improves healing thanks to the supply of collagen.
Details of Doctor GURTNER Geoffrey
Doctor GURTNER Geoffrey, co-author of the study , specifies that a person who has had a diabetic foot ulcer has a 50% risk of recurrence within a year.
He adds that the diabetic amputee has great difficulty in accepting this amputation, leading to a drop in motivation, consequently, a drop in activity, thus leading him into a vicious circle. According to Doctor GURTNER, a diabetic amputee patient would have a mortality of 50% at 5 years, it would be more than cancer.
This transdermal patch could therefore have a double action . First treat the diabetic foot ulcer, leading to complete healing. And secondly, to help in the prevention and against the recurrence of this diabetic ulcer. This would therefore act on the morale of the diabetic. As the tests have so far been done in vitro, clinical trials on diabetics with such complications have been announced.
Stephen Paul is the lead author and founder of My Health Sponsor. Holder of a diploma in health and well-being coaching with more than 200 articles in the field of health, he makes it a point of honor to offer advice based on reliable information, based on scientific research, and verified by health professionals.