The use of a dermal substitute (integra) to preserve maximal foot length in a diabetic foot wound with bone and tendon exposure following urgent surgical debridement for an acute infection.

In this report, the authors present the case of a 62-year-old female patient who was admitted to our hospital with an acute deep foot infection. The patient was taken immediately to the operating room where she underwent surgical debridement to completely remove all infected tissues; at the end of this first surgical step, all 5 metatarsal bones remained exposed dorsally. Once eradication of infection was completed, we had to decide whether to perform a transmetatarsal amputation at proximal levels, which would have allowed healing by first intention but would have left the patient with a smaller foot stump, or amputation at more distal levels followed by coverage of healthy tendon and bone tissues with a dermal regeneration template (Integra, Integra Life Sciences Corporation, Plainsboro, NJ), which would have preserved the foot stump length and allowed better walking. We opted for the second choice, and the use of a dermal template actually enabled our patient to maintain a considerable foot stump length, much longer than would have resulted from an amputation with immediate primary closure.