European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

DIABETIC FOOT ULCER: A REVIEW ON ITS PATHOPHYSIOLOGY, CLASSIFICATION AND AYURVEDIC TREATMENT

Lalita Chauhan*, Prerna Thakur and Sheetal Sharma

ABSTRACT

Foot ulcers are one of the main complications in diabetes mellitus in all diabetic patients. The problem and features are infection, ulceration, or gangrene. The three major contributors to the development of diabetic foot are; Neuropathy, poor circulation, and susceptibility to infection which when present, foot deformities or minor trauma can readily lead to ulceration and infection. About 60% of the foot ulcers are caused by neuropathy and affects patients with both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes mellitus. For the classification of foot ulcers, The Wagner and University of Texas systems are the ones most frequently used and is indicative stage of prognosis. Many different methods have been proposed for the prevention and treatment and their goal is to accelerate the wound healing. These treatments other than standard therapy include local use of epidermal growth factor, tretinoin, human skin equivalents, vacuum-compression therapy (VCT), hyperbaric oxygen and peripheral Stem cell injection. The novel drugs for treatment of this problem are the herbal extracts like aloe vera, neem and guduchi extracts. The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed 21,000 plants, which are used for medicinal purposes around the world. The current review focuses on herbal drugs, plants that are used in the treatment of Diabetic Foot Ulcer and some allopathic marketed preparations.

Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, Diabetic foot ulcer, Herbal plants, Treatment.