Treatment of Diabetic Foot Ulcer in a 58-year-old Turkman Patient based on Iranian Traditional Medicine

• Main Authors: Hassan Hajtalebi, Hassan Khani-Iurigh, Hamid-Reza Hajtalebi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tehran University of Medical Sciences 2016-12-01
• Series: Traditional and Integrative Medicine
• Subjects: Diabetic Foot Ulcer; Traditional Medicine; Modern Medicine; Leech Therapy
• Online Access: https://jtim.tums.ac.ir/index.php/jtim/article/view/63
• ISSN: 2476-5104; 2476-5112

Introduction: Diabetic foot ulcer is among serious problems for diabetic patients and its treatment is very complicated and requires great care. Inappropriate responses to various medical and surgical treatments have made this complication problematic. Case Presentation: The patient was a 58-year-old man with diabetes for more than twenty five years and hospitalized with complaint of diabetic foot ulcers, uncontrolled blood sugar, and sepsis at Shohadaye Gonbad Kavus hospital in June 2015. The patient's foot ulcer did not respond to conventional treatments, and amputation order was made by his treating orthopedist. The patient referred to traditional medicine clinic for counselling. The patient had two wounds on the right foot in Zone 1 (Right 11 X and 1 XR) with a diameter of approximately 5 cm by 6 cm and Zone 2 (Right 9 Y and 6, 7, 10 X) with a diameter of approximately 12 cm by 5 cm which was equivalent to STAGE D/GRADE III according to clinical examination by traditional medicine physician based on the standards of Texas University Diabetic Wound Classification System, and equivalent to GRADE 4 based on the standards of Wagner Comprehensive System for Wound Diabetic Foot. The patient's health and nutrition was under control. Pharmaceutical measures in this patient were including the herbal medicines (including both uni- and multi-component medicines), and conventional antihyperglycemic drugs. The manual actions were including full back cupping every night until the end of therapy, massage therapy, and leech therapy inside and around the wound with 10 to 12 fine,medium and big leeches in 16 sessions every 2 to 4 days. The diabetic foot ulcer healed completely, the patient's physical and mental states improved, and his blood sugar was controlled after 60 days of treatment Conclusion: It seems that combining the modern and traditional medicine can treat most of the common diseases especially diabetic foot ulcer and it is essential to perform a wide range of assessments and studies in different diseases based on the Iranian effective medicine.