? As many as 20 million people in the United States have diabetes and more than two million of these individuals will develop diabetic foot ulcers during their lifetime. In addition, the incidence of ulcer recurrence after complete healing approaches 30% within 12 months. The average cost for a single episode of a diabetic foot ulcer has been reported to be $4,595. Diabetic foot ulcers are very difficult to heal and represent a serious problem in this country. They are also a leading cause of hospitalization among those with diabetes. At any given time, up to 800,000 people in the U.S. suffer from them and these patients are at higher risk for infection, as well as amputation, with roughly 67,000 (diabetes-related) amputations conducted each year. Diabetic foot disease is estimated to cost the nation in excess of $1.2 billion [US] each year, excluding the costs of surgery, rehabilitation, prostheses, and lost income. It is clear that despite the medical advances that have been made in the treatment of diabetes in the past fifty years, there remains a significant need for more effective therapies to treat diabetic foot disease. With costs to treat these wounds reaching into the billions of dollars annually and rising, what is needed is a treatment that makes use of the fundamental understanding of (1) the underlying biology and biochemistry of these wounds and their mitigation, and application of this knowledge to (2) biomaterials science and controlled release technology, thus allowing for the treatment of these wounds in a rational & scientific manner. Furthermore, the treatment should provide a cost-conscious alternative to today's (expensive) therapies that in addition, relieves suffering for these """"""""hard-to-hear' patients, and provides better overall patient outcomes. The development of a cost-effective, non-adherent novel hydrogel dressing that will remove fluid from the wound, add a low dose proteinase inhibitor and antibiotic, and/or nitric oxide precursor and angiogenic agent, and in addition acts to minimize noxious wound biomolecules by sequestration is described. ? ?
