Background:
Diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is one of the leading complications of type-2 diabetes mellitus. It isassociated with neuropathy and peripheral arterial disease of the lower limb in patients with diabetes. Basically, there are four stages of wound healing namely hemostasis phase, inflammatory phase, proliferative phase and maturation phase. In case of DFU, all these stages are disturbed which lead to delay in healing and consequently to lower limb amputation. Traditionally the dosage forms like tablets, creams, ointments, gels and capsules have been used for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcer from many years.
Introduction:
In this review the global prevalence as well as etiopathogenesis related to diabetic foot ulcer has been discussed. Potential role of various synthetic and herbal drugs as well as their conventional dosage form for the effective management of diabetes foot ulcer has been highlighted.
Methods:
Structured search of bibliographic databases for previously published peer-reviewed research papers was explored and data was culminated in terms of various approaches that are used for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcer.
Results:
About 142 papers including both, research and review articles, were included in this review in order to produce a comprehensive as well as readily understandable article. A series of herbal and synthetic drugs have been discussed along with their current status of treatment in terms of dose and mechanism of action.
Conclusion:
DFU has become one of the most common complications in patients having more than ten years of diabetes. Hence, understanding the root cause and its successful treatment is a big challenge because it depends upon multiple factors such as judicious selection of drug as well as proper control of blood sugar level. Most of the drugs that have been used so far either belong to the category of antibiotics, antihyperglycaemics or, they have been repositioned. Moreover, in clinical practice, much focus has been given towards dressings that have been used to cover the ulcer. The complete treatment of DFU is still a farfetched dream to be achieved and it is expected that a combination therapy of herbal and synthetic drug with multiple treatment pathway could be able to overcome the disease.
