Title

Diagnosis and Treatment of Diabetic Foot Infections

Authoring Organization

Infectious Diseases Society of America

Publication Month/Year

June 15, 2012

Last Updated Month/Year

October 9, 2024

Supplemental Implementation Tools

Document Type

Guideline

External Publication Status

Published

Country of Publication

US

Document Objectives

Most of the information contained in the previous DFI guideline is still applicable. Having produced an extensive and heavily referenced work in 2004, our goal with this revision of the guideline was to reformat it in the new IDSA style and make it a companion to the previous work that not only updates our recommendations on the basis of recent data, but to make them relatively simple and, we hope, clear.

Target Patient Population

Patients with diabetic foot infections

PICO Questions

  1. In which diabetic patients with a foot wound should I suspect infection, and how should I classify it?

  2. How should I assess a diabetic patient presenting with a foot infection?

  3. When and from whom should I request a consultation for a patient with a diabetic foot infection?

  4. Which patients with a diabetic foot infection should I hospitalize, and what criteria should they meet before I discharge them?

  5. When and how should I obtain specimen(s) for culture from a patient with a diabetic foot wound?

  6. How should I initially select, and when should I modify, an antibiotic regimen for a diabetic foot infection? (

  7. When should I consider imaging studies to evaluate a diabetic foot infection, and which should I select?

  8. How should I diagnose and treat osteomyelitis of the foot in a patient with diabetes?

  9. In which patients with a diabetic foot infection should I consider surgical intervention, and what type of procedure may be appropriate?

  10. What types of wound care techniques and dressings are appropriate for diabetic foot wounds?

Inclusion Criteria

Male, Female, Adult, Older adult

Health Care Settings

Ambulatory, Hospital, Outpatient, Operating and recovery room

Intended Users

Diabetes educator, epidemiology infection prevention, nurse, nurse practitioner, physician, physician assistant, podiatrist

Scope

Diagnosis, Assessment and screening, Treatment, Management

Diseases/Conditions (MeSH)

D017719 - Diabetic Foot, D016523 - Foot Ulcer

Keywords

osteomyelitis, diabetic foot infection, diabetic foot ulcer, diabetic foot, diabetes complications

Source Citation

Benjamin A. Lipsky, Anthony R. Berendt, Paul B. Cornia, James C. Pile, Edgar J. G. Peters, David G. Armstrong, H. Gunner Deery, John M. Embil, Warren S. Joseph, Adolf W. Karchmer, Michael S. Pinzur, Eric Senneville, 2012 Infectious Diseases Society of America Clinical Practice Guideline for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Diabetic Foot Infections, Clinical Infectious Diseases, Volume 54, Issue 12, 15 June 2012, Pages e132–e173, https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/cis346