Monday 11 October 2010

Diabetic Foot Ulcers may be Cured by a Vitamin A Compound

Diabetic Foot Ulcers may be Cured by a Vitamin A Compound

A compound of vitamin A called topical Retin-A also known as tretinoin, mainly used to treat acne problems, enhances the healing of foot ulcers in patients with diabetes, according to a report published in Archives of Dermatology. Although previous studies have shown that topical Retin-A has been somewhat useful for improving wound healing in patients with diabetes and some results have been discussed by several scientists, a group of researchers tried to know if tretinoin really helped or not these patients.

The research was conducted in 24 subjects with diabetic foot ulcers but who showed no signs of infection or circulation problems in their limbs. Some patients were assigned to 4 weeks of daily treatment with topical tretinoin solution 0.05 per cent in parallel, the Monitoring Group has been assigned to treatment with saline. The two groups were evaluated every 2 weeks. The 22 volunteers who completed the study were affected by a total, *, of 24 foot ulcers. 18 percent of patients in the control group (November 2 ulcers) and 46 percent of patients in the treated group (6 of 13 ulcers) achieved complete healing at the end of 16 weeks.

There was no statistically significant adverse effects, although some patients experienced mild pain at the ulcer site. The researchers were pleased with the results, although they were a little concerned because tretinoin irritate and they thought that patients would become so irritated that it would not be able to continue the investigation. However, this situation does not seem a problem in most cases, they said. One of the conclusions of researchers is expected that diabetic foot clinics know and use Retin-A when other treatments do not work.

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