Longitudinal Study of Chronic Wounds Using Novel Wound Measurement Technologies

Diabetic foot ulcers are a major burden on the healthcare system, and it is highly desirable to develop a practical, reliable, non-invasive means of diagnosing, assessing and measuring wound healing, so as to provide wound care specialists with key data with which to make effective decisions for clinical management.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a novel technique of imaging of cutaneous tissue. Using low-power infrared light, it is a non-invasive in-vivo imaging technique which provides resolution of <10microns to a depth of 1 - 1.25 mm in skin, (adequate to resolve capillaries) utilizing the optical scattering characteristics of tissue to provide imaging contrast.

This open, non-randomised, observational study will assess the feasibility of using OCT to diagnose chronic diabetic foot ulcers. One cohort of 15 patients will be scanned over a 16 week period and results studied to determine whether there is an association between rate of wound healing and OCT measurements.

Inclusion criteria

• Defining ABPI ≥0.5 - <1.2
• Patients with DFU for over 4 weeks but less than 1 year duration. DFU resulting from neuropathy will be included.
• Neuropathy scores defined by 10g Semmes-Weinstein monofilament tests at 10 sites on plantar and dorsal surfaces

Exclusion criteria

• Patients with uncontrolled diabetes, the Charcot Foot, cancer (except non-melanoma skin cancer in the limb), decompensated cardiac failure, clinically significant renal failure, history of stroke or significant peripheral arterial disease, or those who are pregnant, or on a waiting list for interventional therapy.