It’s being called a breakthrough treatment for people suffering painful and debilitating nerve damage from diabetes. One man almost had to have his foot amputated, but a local doctor — one of a few in the nation — changed his life.
Three months ago, Edwynne Murphy could barely walk. Living with diabetes for more than 30 years, he developed an ulcer on his foot.
“The ulcer on my foot had gone all the way through to the bone and everybody was concerned. If it continued on that (the doctor) might amputate my foot,” said Murphy.
Murphy suffered from diabetic neuropathy. More than 20 million Americans are diagnosed with diabetes, and nearly half have some form of neuropathy — a condition in which nerves swell and become damaged.
“Imagine taking a balloon like you’d blow up and make into a hat for a party. Put it through a small napkin ring and begin to blow it up. (That simulates the) swelling of your nerve. The “nerve” gets compressed at the napkin ring,” said Dr. Robert Hagan of the Dellon Institute at St. John’s Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur.
In the past, medication and — worst-case scenario — amputation were the only ways to treat the progressive and irreversible condition.
Dr. A. Lee Dellon from Johns Hopkins University found a way to decompress the nerves. He’s opened six clinics, including the one at St. John’s Mercy Medical Center.
“We make four small incisions and through (the) incisions we actually have access to eight nerve branches in your leg and in your foot,” says Hagan.
And during the one and a half hour outpatient procedure, doctors decompress the nerves.
“It’s truly going to change the natural history course of diabetic neuropathy and how it affects our extremities,” says Hagan.
That includes patients like Murphy, who is now able to walk one mile to work.
For more information on the Dellon Institutes, click here.