A wound in the foot of a healthy person heals naturally, in part because blood carries oxygen to the site of the wound and helps it heal. If a diabetic were to get the same wound, lack of blood flow, and/or oxygen in the blood, may prevent or slow wound healing. This lack of blood flow, or lack of oxygen, in the lower extremities is Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD).
Diabetics get PAD far more often than do non-diabetics. Because of this increased rate of PAD in diabetics, organizations recommend that diabetics who are more than 50 years old, have had active diabetes for 10 years, or smoke should be tested for PAD every year.
There is no good way to check the feet of diabetics for PAD. Different tests offer advantages, but no other test offers the comprehensive ability to inspect the arteries and the tissue deep within the foot with pinpoint accuracy and identify the specific locations and extent of PAD. For use with non-diabetic patients, the gold standard is the ankle-brachial index (ABI). However, the ABI is inaccurate in diabetics because their arteries often become calcified, and this makes it difficult to read blood pressure in the ankle. Moreover, the ABI only provides a non-specific reading at a location above the foot, and its results are not reliably reproducible. Ultrasound can measure blood flow in legs but does not work on the feet, and it does not measure oxygenation. Angiograms, CTs and MRAs are expensive and invasive. Hyperspectral imaging and the ox-imager scan the surface of the foot and cannot measure blood flow or oxygenation deep within the foot. The SmartMat can detect nascent foot ulcers on the bottom of the foot but does not detect PAD.
VOTIS Subdermal Imaging Technologies, Ltd. (“VOTIS” or the “Company”) helps people who are suffering from chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI) to keep their feet.
