Minimally invasive tibial nerve decompression procedure could improve QOL in DFU patients with TTS

Abstract

Professor Tetsuji Uemura is a Visiting Professor in the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Showa University and Clinical Professor in the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Saga University Hospital. He is an expert in plastic surgery working to develop techniques and treatments for patients with diabetic food diseases, such as foot ulcers and gangrene. Although there is broad agreement regarding the existence of tarsal tunnel syndrome (TTS), there are still differences of opinion regarding its epidemiology as an etiology for foot pain and paresthesia, particularly in patients with diabetes. There is also still confusion regarding the best conservative treatment, timing of surgical intervention, best surgical approach, and management of recurrences. In Japan and ASEAN countries, more and more patients with diabetic foot disease need to have lower limb amputations due, in part, to a lack of medical specialists for diabetic foot diseases. Uemura wants to help overcome this by harnessing his interest in chronic nerve compression of the tibial nerve inside the tarsal tunnel, caused by diabetes and how this can be treated and prevented. Five key themes for Uemura and his fellow researchers in the Department, known as SEEDs for the Project, are: Shaping the relationship between the progression of diabetic, neuropathy and changes in foot and gait; Establishing a simple and early diagnostic method for acute infections that lead to amputation; Establishing the effectiveness of prophylactic foot surgery for diabetic foot lesions, especially verifying the possibility of treatment to improve the neuropathy that causes diabetic foot lesions; and Developing shoes that effectively prevent the occurrence of diabetic foot lesions.