Scholl's Armstrong in Spain keynote: 'Amputations worse than cancer'

The Spanish National Symposium on the Diabetic Foot last week was the scene for a keynote address that delivered a strong message proposing “a marriage of technology with common sense for the next decade.” The address was delivered by David G. Armstrong, DPM, PhD, Professor of Surgery and Associate Dean at Scholl College at Rosalind Franklin University.

More than 500 specialist physicians, surgeons, and healthcare providers packed a standing-room-only lecture hall in historic Toledo, Spain, to hear Dr. Armstrong's keynote address. “I believe that the outpouring of interest in this area is emblematic of the importance of the problem,” noted Dr. Armstrong.

In the lecture, Dr. Armstrong editorialized about the scope of the problem: “…my friend and colleague, Dr. Jeff Robbins, often equates a diabetes-related amputation with a high-grade cancer, like breast or colon or lung. But 5-year survival is generally worse with amputation. We would never withhold high-quality therapy from a cancer patient ¯but we do so all the time with people at high risk for amputation or re-amputation. This must stop.”

Workshops with Armstrong also included other members of Scholl's Center for Lower Extremity Ambulatory Research (CLEAR), including Dr. Lee C. Rogers and Dr. Nicholas Bevilacqua, who joined via video conference to help highlight many technologies being used at Scholl's North Chicago-based foot and ankle center.