Love Your Legs
Get Freedom from Leg Ulcers With Advanced Comprehensive Treatment Protocol
Leg ulcers or non-healing wounds of the leg are a debilitating condition and significantly affect the quality of life. Chronic leg ulcers affect 0.6–3% of those aged over 60 years, increasing to over 5% of those aged over 80 years. In the course of a lifetime, almost 10% of the population will develop a chronic wound, with a wound-related death rate of 2.5%.India has the highest prevalence of leg ulcers in the world. Majority of the patients of leg ulcers end up in amputation, that is removing the affected part of leg surgically. Those who have undergone amputation have a mortality rate of 50% in the next 5 years. Hence it is important not to ignore the leg ulcers and treat them in the early stages itself.

Causes of Leg Ulcers
The ulcers of the leg can occur due to a variety of underlying conditions. They can be broadly divided into following types based on cause:

1. Venous ulcers –
About 85% of the leg ulcers occur due to a problem in the veins of the legs. These veins cannot pump the impure blood from the legs back to the heart due to incompetent valves. This is called as venous insufficiency and is seen in patients suffering from varicose veins, old deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and May-Thurner syndrome.

2. Arterial ulcers –
These contribute to about 10% of the leg ulcers and occur due to blockages in the arteries of the legs. The arteries carry pure blood with nutrients to the leg from the heart. When the arteries become narrow, the tissue of the leg doesn’t receive enough nutrition and result in leg ulcers. These are commonly seen in patients with diabetes, hypertension, cardiac diseases, smokers and obese.

3. Other –
The other causes contribute to about 5% of the leg ulcers. These include neuropathy, trophic ulcers, infections and auto-immune conditions to name a few.
If you have a wound of the leg that has not healed for long time, it is important to ascertain the underlying cause. At Expert-IR clinic, our vascular specialist doctor determines the exact cause of the ulcer by performing a physical examination and a specialized Colour Doppler Ultrasound Examination at the same time of OPD consultation. Please remember that a Colour Doppler scan of the blood vessels of the leg is very important to rule out venous and arterial causes of the ulcer. Once the underlying cause is ascertained, our specialists offer a comprehensive treatment protocol tailor made for an individual’s condition.

Know the Advancement in Treating Leg Ulcers with IR Vascular Treatment
Save Limbs, Save Life
Venous leg ulcers:
Traditionally venous leg ulcers are treated by a process of cleaning, dressing the wound and applying compression bandages to theoretically help improve circulation. However this approach takes a prolonged time for healing and doesn’t address the underlying cause due to which ulcers can come back again. While compression bandages are helpful, it needs to be augmented by treating the underlying venous insufficiency. At Expert IR clinic, we provide most advanced methods of VenaSeal closure system / EVLA/RFA and percutaneous sclerotherapy to treat underlying varicose veins. For treating chronic DVT and May-Thurner syndrome, we perform balloon angioplasty and stenting to restore the venous blood flow. Please read more about these treatments for varicose vein and DVT here. A comprehensive treatment strategy ensures faster healing of the venous ulcers and reduces the chances of recurrence significantly.


Arterial leg ulcers:
Arterial leg ulcers were traditionally treated by dressing, debridement and most would end up in gangrene requiring amputation. Amputation is the last resort of treatment and affects the quality of life of individual in addition to increasing the risk of death in near future. The most efficient way to accelerate healing of arterial ulcers is to restore the local blood flow by opening the blockages in the arteries of the leg. A vascular specialist doctor can perform angioplasty and stenting of the blocked arteries and restore the blood flow to the leg. Read more about angioplasty and stenting of peripheral arterial disease here. This approach helps in healing of the wound and limiting the level of debridement / amputation to minimum, thereby helping to maintain the quality of life.
Diabetic Foot:
Diabetic foot is a major consequence of diabetes. With the increase in the prevalence of diabetes across the globe, diabetic foot condition is increasingly seen. This condition is usually an outcome of effect of diabetes on nerves (diabetic neuropathy) and arteries (peripheral arterial disease). It can present with symptoms of tingling sensation, loss of sensation, ulcers and gangrene in the foot. Majority of patients of diabetic foot ulcer end up in amputation. At Expert-IR clinic, we follow a strategy which emphasizes on prevention of amputation. It has been found in studies that opening the blockages in the arteries of the leg with balloon angioplasty/ stenting helps in earlier healing of the wounds and minimizes the level of amputation. A teamof diabetologist, diabetic foot surgeon and vascular specialist carefully craft a customized treatment plan for an individual patient and help to overcome this debilitating condition.

Read What Our Patients Say
Book Your Appointment
Frequently Asked Questions
Most frequent questions and answers
Answer: A wound is considered chronic or non-healing if it has not healed significantly in four weeks or completely in eight weeks. If you’re suffering from a wound or sore that isn’t showing any signs of healing, please visit a specialist doctor. USG color Doppler test of blood vessels of the leg is very important to determine the underlying cause.
Answer: Few of the symptoms and signs may indicate that the wound is getting infected. These include warm leg, redness, pain, foul smelling pus discharge and fever. Please visit a specialist doctor if you notice any of these signs.
Answer:
- Taking proper measures and steps to control diabetes can provide significant prevention against the diabetic foot.
- Regular exercise.
- Proper low sugar intake if diabetic.
- Regular blood tests and doctor’s consultation.
Answer: The diabetic foot needs treatment because it may lead to gangrene leaving the patient with no other option but amputation.