Treatment of Diabetic Foot Osteomyelitis; Antibiotics Versus Conservative Surgery

Objective: To assess the outcome in patients with diabetic foot osteomyelitis being treated with antibiotics alone with those being treated with antibiotics coupled with conservative surgery. Study Design: Quasi-experimental study. Place and Duration of Study: Combined Military Hospital, Rawalpindi from Feb to Aug 2016. Methodology: Sixty patients with diabetic foot osteomyelitis, fulfilling inclusion criteria, were included in this study. They were divided into two groups of 30 each. The "Antibiotic-Group” received only antibiotics while, the "Surgical-Group" underwent surgery in addition to antibiotics. Results: There were 37 males (61.66%) and 23 females (38.33%). The average age of patients was 59.72±9.79 years. 20 patients (66.67%) had full recovery in the Surgical-Group, and in the Antibiotics-Group, 18 patients (60%) had healed wounds (pvalue=0.599) Conclusion: The outcome of antibiotics only and conservative surgery plus antibiotics is similar.