The same test now frequently used to assess risk for heart disease may now help prevent amputations according to researchers at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in Chicago and the University of Arizona. “The results of this study, led by Dr. Adam Fleischer, were somewhat surprising to us”, noted David G. Armstrong, Professor of Surgery and Director of the University of Arizona’s Southern Arizona Limb Salvage Alliance (SALSA), the study’s senior author. “I think what it confirms is that low grade, uncontrolled inflammation is probably associated with a lot of evil in the body.” The study suggested that a now commonly performed study, C reactive protein, when combined with clinical assessment of wounds in patients, may be more accurate in detecting potentially limb-threatening bone infection (known as osteomyelitis) than either test alone. “What this study allows us to do is to target limb sparing antibiotics and surgery to the place where they might be most needed.” The study is published in the January issue of the Journal of Foot and Ankle Surgery.
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