Diabetic Foot Files

LIMBWatch Series | Dr. Paula DeJesus DPM, FACFAS, : The Future of Limb Salvage Through Minimally Invasive Surgery
In this episode of the LIMBWatch Series on Diabetic Foot Files sits with Dr. Lady Paula DeJesus DPM, FACFAS, DABPM, CWSP— a triple board‑certified podiatric surgeon and Section Chief at Yale New Haven Health Greenwich Hospital
Dr. Dejesus shares her remarkable journey into podiatric medicine and discusses the clinical decision-making behind complex diabetic foot infections, osteomyelitis, peripheral arterial disease, and limb preservation. She explains how minimally invasive surgical techniques are transforming diabetic limb salvage, including innovative approaches to treating calcaneal osteomyelitis while avoiding major amputations such as minimally invasive techniques like Avedis suction curettage.
The conversation also explores the importance of multidisciplinary care, early vascular assessment, biomechanics, patient compliance, advanced imaging, regenerative medicine, and the compassionate communication needed to help patients understand amputation risk without losing hope.
Whether you’re a podiatrist, wound care clinician, vascular specialist, student, or simply passionate about preventing amputations, this episode is filled with practical clinical pearls and inspiring insights from one of today’s leaders in limb salvage.
In this episode you’ll learn:
When to escalate from conservative care to surgery
The role of vascular assessment in limb preservation
Why biomechanics is often the missing piece in wound healing
Modern approaches to diabetic foot osteomyelitis
How minimally invasive surgery is changing limb salvage
The value of multidisciplinary teams in reducing amputations
Strategies for improving patient compliance and communication
Clinical lessons every young limb salvage specialist should know
In this episode of Limb Watch, — shares real-world limb preservation strategies, including skin substitutes, and the importance of revascularization for diabetic foot infections.
Diabetic Foot Files is dedicated to advancing diabetic foot care, wound healing, and amputation prevention through conversations with world-renowned experts in limb salvage.

LIMBWatch Series | Dr. Paula DeJesus DPM, FACFAS, : The Future of Limb Salvage Through Minimally Invasive Surgery

In this episode of the LIMBWatch Series on Diabetic Foot Files sits with Dr. Lady Paula DeJesus DPM, FACFAS, DABPM, CWSP— a triple board‑certified podiatric surgeon and Section Chief at Yale New Haven Health Greenwich Hospital

Dr. Dejesus shares her remarkable journey into podiatric medicine and discusses the clinical decision-making behind complex diabetic foot infections, osteomyelitis, peripheral arterial disease, and limb preservation. She explains how minimally invasive surgical techniques are transforming diabetic limb salvage, including innovative approaches to treating calcaneal osteomyelitis while avoiding major amputations such as minimally invasive techniques like Avedis suction curettage.

The conversation also explores the importance of multidisciplinary care, early vascular assessment, biomechanics, patient compliance, advanced imaging, regenerative medicine, and the compassionate communication needed to help patients understand amputation risk without losing hope.

Whether you’re a podiatrist, wound care clinician, vascular specialist, student, or simply passionate about preventing amputations, this episode is filled with practical clinical pearls and inspiring insights from one of today’s leaders in limb salvage.

In this episode you’ll learn:

When to escalate from conservative care to surgery

The role of vascular assessment in limb preservation

Why biomechanics is often the missing piece in wound healing

Modern approaches to diabetic foot osteomyelitis

How minimally invasive surgery is changing limb salvage

The value of multidisciplinary teams in reducing amputations

Strategies for improving patient compliance and communication

Clinical lessons every young limb salvage specialist should know

In this episode of Limb Watch, — shares real-world limb preservation strategies, including skin substitutes, and the importance of revascularization for diabetic foot infections.

Diabetic Foot Files is dedicated to advancing diabetic foot care, wound healing, and amputation prevention through conversations with world-renowned experts in limb salvage.

Dr. G examines how diabetic toes and ulcers are rarely just wounds but visible warnings of neuropathy, poor circulation, infection, and gaps in care. She asks who is responsible for protecting the foot — the patient, primary care, podiatry, vascular, infectious disease, surgery, or nursing — and how fragmented referrals and delayed access can lead to a cascade ending in amputation.

The episode also explains hospital handling of amputated tissue, patients’ rights to their removed parts, and the future of limb preservation through surveillance technologies and coordinated responsibility to prevent avoidable loss.

This episode introduces edge trenching, a novel debridement technique developed by Dr. Igor Melnichuk that targets dysfunctional wound edges (epibolies, hyperkeratosis, rolled or fibrotic margins) to create a biologically active transition zone and promote epithelial migration.

It explains the procedure, proposed mechanisms, clinical use—especially in diabetic plantar ulcers—how trenches are created and repeated, and emphasizes that edge trenching must be part of comprehensive care addressing perfusion, infection control, offloading, and underlying causes.

Dr. Giulia Baldazzi, a vascular surgeon, fellow and phd candidate researcher, shares her journey from UCSF to Italy and explores advances in perfusion assessment, revascularization, and limb preservation for diabetic foot care.

She discusses diagnostic innovations (PAT, MaxCORE, NIRS), the importance of early vascular referral and multidisciplinary teams, and practical strategies to prevent amputations and improve healing.