Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) supports the healing process by removing fluid and drawing out the infection from a wound, promoting the growth of new tissue. The device works by providing and distributing negative pressure evenly across the wound bed, either through the application of an open cell foam or a gauze dressing. NPWT provides a warm, moist wound bed while removing wound fluid that contains factors that inhibit cell growth, enhances wound oxygenation and improves the flow of blood and nutrients to the wound. NPWT also creates mechanical forces that influence the wound macroscopically, inducing cell proliferation, cell migration to the wound and angiogenesis. For infected wounds, the device can be used to instil antibiotics. In this article, a 57-year-old Caucasian woman with respiratory failure developed sepsis secondary to an intra-abdominal infection with abscess. Vancomycin 1mg/mL wound instillation, instilled as 100mL every 3 hours with a dwell time of 10 minutes, was administered concomitantly with intravenous vancomycin in the successful management of this patient.

Alison Bunnell

Doctor of Pharmacy Candidate 2022, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA

Erin Beauclair

Doctor of Pharmacy Candidate 2022, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA

Breanna Jones

Doctor of Pharmacy, Pharmacy Department, Sanford Medical Center Fargo, Fargo, ND, USA

Emily Greenstein

Advanced Practice Registered Nurse and Certified Nurse Practitioner, Wound Care, Sanford Medical Center Fargo, Fargo, ND, USA

Justin M Jones

Doctor of Pharmacy, Pharmacy Department, Sanford Medical Center Fargo, Fargo, ND, USA

Andrea R Clarens

Doctor of Pharmacy Pharmacy Department, Sanford Bemidji Medical Center, Bemidji, MN, USA

Key words

• Acute kidney injury
• Computed tomography

• Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes

• Negative pressure wound therapy

Declaration

Emily Greenstein reports she has been a consultant for Urgo medical, 3M and coloplast. 3M manufactures V.A.C.  VeraFlo. None of these manufacture or distribute vancomycin instillation described in this manuscript.

Background: In some patients, diabetic foot ulcers may heal slowly despite tight control of blood glucose and normal limb circulation, implying the presence of multifactorial, unidentified factors to wound healing. Previous efforts to identify these factors using binary variables, such as amputation or specific healing timelines, inadequately reflect the complexities of wound healing capacity.

Aims: We aimed to identify factors associated with delayed diabetic foot ulcer healing.

Methods: Eight factors were assumed to affect diabetic foot ulcer healing; patient age, age at the onset of diabetes, sex, peripheral arterial disease (PAD), HbA1c, smoking as measured by the Brinkman index (BI), dialysis and bone infection. They were analysed using linear regression and multivariable analysis against three healing indices: total healing period (THP), granulation time (GT) and time to contraction onset (TCO).

Results: PAD and BI correlated positively with all three indices. Patients with PAD exhibited significantly extended THP, GT and TCO. An increase of 100 in BI corresponded with a 1.53 day increase in GT.

Conclusion: PAD was associated with delayed healing according to every measure analysed, while BI was linked with slower granulation. Besides THP, the measurements of GT — and possibly TCO — could evaluate some aspects of healing capacity of diabetic ulcers.

Kazufumi Tachi

Senior Lecturer, Division of Plastic Surgery, Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Sendai, Japan

Koichi Gonda

Professor, Division of Plastic Surgery, Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Sendai, Japan

Takashi Kochi

Chief Surgeon, Department of Plastic Surgery, Sendai City Hospital, Sendai, Japan

Jyunya Niwa

Research Associate, Division of Plastic Surgery, Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Sendai, Japan

Key words

● Diabetic foot ulcer

● New index of wound healing

● Brinkman index

Declarations

All authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Accurate skin assessment is key to pressure ulcer prevention. It has been shown that a lack of accurate assessment means that patients with dark skin tones are more likely to be diagnosed with higher-category pressure ulcers, leading to poorer outcomes (Oozageer Gunowa et al, 2017). This article highlights training and development carried out at the Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester to incorporate skin tone awareness into aSSKINg bundle assessments and PURPOSE T pressure ulcer risk assessments, using the skin tone tool (Dhoonmoon et al, 2021).

Susy Pramod

Lead Tissue Viability Nurse, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester

Jane Mayes

Honorary Tissue Viability Nurse, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester; Clinical Education Manager, Essity

Katie Bowling

Tissue Viability Nurse, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester

Ged McDermott

Tissue Viability Nurse, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester

Key words

• Assessment
• Pressure ulcer
• PURPOSE T
• Skin tone

This systematic review and meta-analysis of 126 randomised controlled trials, published in Diabetes Care, identified that the weekly dose of physical activity required to optimise glucose-lowering in people with type 2 diabetes is 1100 Metabolic Equivalents of Task (MET)-minutes per week, and this remained consistent across a wide range of baseline HbA1c values.This is the equivalent of 36 minutes per day of moderate-paced walking, 244 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week or 318 minutes of moderate strength training per week. Multicomponent activity (a mix of strength and aerobic activity), strength training and brisk walking were the most effective activities. Achieving the optimal weekly MET dose had greater effects in those with higher HbA1c at baseline, including up to a 1.02% reduction in those with an initial HbA1c >64 mmol/mol, and there was even a statistically significant 0.24–0.38% HbA1c reduction in those with prediabetes (HbA1c <48 mmol/mol) at baseline. These findings suggest that people with diabetes may need more physical activity than in the current generic recommendations of 150–300 minutes per week of moderate-intensity activity or 75–150 minutes per week of vigorous activity. Since we know that many do not achieve current recommendations consistently, helping people undertake these doses of physical activity is likely to need support from a multidisciplinary team, including exercise professionals and coaches, as well as from family and friends.

Pam Brown

GP in Swansea

Citation: Brown P (2024) Diabetes Distilled: Physical activity – how much is needed to optimise glycaemic control?

Diabetes & Primary Care 26: 241–3