Aims and objectives
The aim of this study is to investigate whether it is possible to differentiate between diabetic and healthy heel pads by means of real-time sonoelastography (ElaXto).
To date,
sonoelastography has not been not used for clinical investigations of the heel pad elasticity.
Eight diabetic (4M-4F,
55-80 years) and 8 healthy subjects (5F-3M,
60-76 years) underwent B-Mode ultrasound (for heel pad thickness measurement) and sonoelastography (for soft tissue investigation) on both heel pads.
Findings showed that there was no statistically significant difference in UHPT between diabetics...
Methods and materials
A.
Subjects
Eight subjects affected with Type II diabetes (4M-4F,
55-80 years) and 8 controls (5F-3M,
60-76 years) were enrolled in this study.
The subjects’ characteristics are reported in Table 1.
Both feet of each subject were considered so that 32 heels were investigated.
All subjects declared to have never had injuries/trauma to any of the feet.
All participants were volunteers and were informed about the conditions of the test that involved no harmful procedures or physical pain.
Before starting the experimental procedure (which included...
Results
A.
B-Mode ultrasound
An example of heel pad scanned by US is shown in Figure 2,
where the yellow dashed line indicates the UHPT.
Table 2 shows UHPT values of both feet grouped by gender and expressed as mean ± one standard deviation.
Table 2 Average heel pad thickness of right and left heels for controls and diabetic patients
Controls
Diabetic subjects
UHPT (mm) right heel
16.9±4.1
15.7±2.1
UHPT (mm) left heel
16.9±4.1
16.0±2.1
Paired t-test showed no significant difference between right and left heel...
Conclusion
The aim of this study was to investigate whether it is possible to differentiate between diabetic and healthy heel pads in terms of elasticity by means of ElaXto sonoelstography.
To date,
sonoelastography has not been used for clinical correlation of heel pad elasticity.
Over the past decades,
ultrasound technology has been one of the most popular techniques for the evaluation of the morphology and properties tissues [7],
but reported controversial results in diabetic patients.
Huntley and Walter (1990) [8] and Hashmi et al.
(2006) [9]...
Personal information
Sara Matteoli,
Department of Industrial Engineering,
University of Florence,
Florence,
Italy,
[email protected]
References
[1] Sopher R,
et al.
The influence of foot posture,
support stiffness,
heel pad loading and tissue mechanical properties on biomechanical factors associated with a risk of heel ulceration.
J Mech Behav Biomed Mater.
2011;4(4):572-82.
[2] “Esaote: ElaXto Sonoelastography”; Satragno L,
Forzoni L,
De Beni S,
Biordi F,
Dellacasa R,
Faraggi M,
“Sono-Elastography Main Clinical Applications”,
EDIMES Srl Edizioni Medico Scientifiche,
Pavia,
F.
Calliada,
M.
Canepari,
G.
Ferraioli,
C.
Filice,
ISBN 978-88-88541-09-9.
[3] Buschmann WR,
et al..
Histology and histomorphometric analysis of the normal and...