Support Granulation using Acupuncture Method: Diabetic Foot Ulcer Case Study

Indonesia is the country with the fourth most diabetes mellitus patient in the world after India, China, and the United States, 12 million patient and is expected to increase to 21.3 million in 2030. Diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) is a complication of diabetes that is hard to heal and can even end in amputation due to infectioncauseof not handled properly. The incidence of diabetic foot ulcers reaches 25% and the overall prevalence reaches 6.3% of all diabetes mellitus patients in each country (JWC Int, 2018). The UK reports the effect of diabetes mellitus 20% on diabetic foot ulcers (National Health Service Diabetes Care, 2013). The incidence of diabetic foot ulcers in the United States is 15% - 20%, with the risk of amputation 15-46 times higher than non-diabetic. The concept of moist wound healingwith modern dressings has become the main foundation in wound care and then acupuncture support therapy can be used as additional therapy to supporting granulationin wound healing process. Acupuncture is an traditional Chinese medicine therapy using needles that are inserted into the acupoint. Methods: A case study of a 61-year-old man who had a diabetic foot ulcers on the left leg of M. Gastronemius lateral after surgery who had sloughly, with the concept of modern wound care dressings, he found regrowth of granulation tissue and used acupuncture method to support granulation cells to grow faster. Proliferation spreads towards epithelialization which is effective enough to be used as additional therapy in cases of diabetic foot ulcers. Results: The effectiveness was quite visible in the repair of fast-growing granulation cells, good revascularization to distal wound using acupuncture methods for diabetic foot ulcers after 2 weeks wound care in every 3 days. Conclusion: Acupuncture therapy as an additional therapy in the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers is quite effective in increasing the amount of granulation cells towards epithelialization in the proliferative phase