Portage Health System, USA

Diabetes Mellitus is a terrible disease affecting millions of people worldwide. Elevated blood sugar associated with diabetes damages blood vessels and nerve tissue placing individuals at greater risk for heart disease, stroke and skin infections. If not recognized early, these skin infections can lead to amputation of extremities.

David Kass, M.D., of Portage Health System, is a family practice physician and certified diabetes specialist. Dr. Kass notes that the proper education of both patients and healthcare providers is essential for proper diabetic care. Since most problems leading to infection occur on the soles of the feet and many diabetics have poor eyesight, early foot problems often go unnoticed by patients.

Once Dr. Kass obtained an AVerVision SPC300 visualizer (document camera), he quickly realized the benefits of being able to display real-time images of a patient’s foot. The camera enabled him to view a diabetic patient’s foot in detail and to show and explain areas of concern in a clear manner on a large screen.

Poorly controlled diabetes can ultimately lead to foot ulceration and amputation; therefore, foot examinations are critical. Healthcare providers inspect the feet of diabetes patients, looking for loss of sensation, redness, ulceration, peeling, calluses, nail changes and arthritic changes. By using the SPC300 visualizer (document camera), Dr. Kass looked to accomplish three main objectives:

• Demonstrating the importance of examining the feet of a diabetic patient and the effects diabetes can have on the foot
• Documenting changes between examinations to track progress, preventing complications and educating health care providers of the importance of carefully examining and treating early foot complications of diabetic patients
• Utilizing the ability to focus on affected areas in real-time, quickly and clearly zooming in on areas of concern and instantly showing the patient exactly what complications might be occurring