Journal of Diabetes Mellitus, 2015, 5, 284-289
Published Online November 2015 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/jdm
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jdm.2015.54035
How to cite this paper: Shalan, N., Al-Bazzaz, A., Al-Ani, I., Najem, F. and Al-Masri, M. (2015) Effect of Carbon Dioxide
Therapy on Diabetic Foot Ulcer. Journal of Diabetes Mellitus, 5, 284-289. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jdm.2015.54035
Effect of Carbon Dioxide Therapy
on Diabetic Foot Ulcer
Naeem Shalan, Abdulrahman Al-Bazzaz, Israa Al-Ani
*
, Fadi Najem, Mohammad Al-Masri
Faculty of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, Al-Ahliyya Amman University, Amman, Jordan
Received 25 September 2015; accepted 2 November 2015; published 5 November 2015
Copyright © 2015 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Abstract
Ulceration of diabetic foot represents one of the most concerning complications associated with
uncontrolled blood sugar in diabetes mellitus. The aim of this study is to evaluate the condition of
twenty-two diabetic patients with different degrees of ulceration in their feet after daily seces-
sions of carbon dioxide therapy. Blood flow to the affected foot was measured by Doppler; also the
size, color, degree of ulceration and sensation of the ulcerative area were all evaluated. Results
showed improvement of blood flow to the affected foot as well as improvement in the sensation
and color of the ulcerative area. It was concluded that carbon dioxide therapy of diabetic foot was
promising and needed thorough investigation to be brought widely into application.
Keywords
Diabetic Foot Ulcer, Carbon Dioxide Therapy
1. Introduction
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder resulting from a defect in insulin secretion, insulin action, or
both. Insulin deficiency leads to chronic hyperglycaemia with disturbances of carbohydrate, fat and protein me-
tabolism [1]-[4]. As the disease progresses, tissue or vascular damage ensues leading to severe diabetic compli-
cations such as retinopathy [5] [6], neuropathy [7] [8], nephropathy [9] [10] and cardiovascular complications
[11] [12]. All these might end up with and foot ulceration which could be a serious problem that needs foot am-
putation [13] [14].
Foot infection is a common problem with diabetes mellitus. It is a complex problem that is associated with
admission of patient to hospitals [14]. Acute foot infection is usually caused by gram positive bacteria like Sta-
phylococcus aureus and streptococci [15]. However, chronic infection is associated with anaerobic bacteria spe-
*
Corresponding author.