Consensus on surgical aspects of managing osteomyelitis in the diabetic foot

摘要

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to develop consensus statements that may help share or even establish ‘best practices’ in the surgical aspects of managing diabetic foot osteomyelitis (DFO) that can be applied in appropriate clinical situations pending the publication of more high-quality data.MethodsWe asked 14 panelists with expertise in DFO management to participate. Delphi methodology was used to develop consensus statements. First, a questionnaire elicited practices and beliefs concerning various aspects of the surgical management of DFO. Thereafter, we constructed 63 statements for analysis and, using a nine-point Likert scale, asked the panelists to indicate the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with the statements. We defined consensus as a mean score of greater than 7.0.ResultsThe panelists reached consensus on 38 items after three rounds. Among these, seven provide guidance on initial diagnosis of DFO and selection of patients for surgical management. Another 15 statements provide guid...