What Is Charcot Foot?
Article Sources
- 1. Kaynak, Gökhan et al. “An overview of the Charcot foot pathophysiology.” Diabetic Foot and Ankle vol. 4 (2013): 10.3402/dfa.v4i0.21117.
- 2. Roberts, Lee C. et al. “The Charcot Foot in Diabetes.” Diabetes Care, vol. 34(9) (2011): 2123-2129.https://doi.org/10.2337/dc11-0844
- 3. Shah, Mrugeshkumar et al. “Charcot Arthropathy.” Medscape Drugs and Diseases (2020): https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1234293-overview
6. Diagnosis
Doctors sometimes misdiagnose early signs of Charcot foot as gout, thrombosis, or cellulitis, due to the similarity in inflammation among the conditions. Many will X-ray the foot or conduct an MRI to provide an image of the bones.2Roberts, Lee C. et al. “The Charcot Foot in Diabetes.” Diabetes Care, vol. 34(9) (2011): 2123-2129.https://doi.org/10.2337/dc11-0844 Other bone tests sometimes performed are bone probing, synovial biopsy, and joint aspiration.3Shah, Mrugeshkumar et al. “Charcot Arthropathy.” Medscape Drugs and Diseases (2020): https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1234293-overview
Laboratory tests include a white blood cell count and an erythrocyte sedimentation rate, both of which are used to rule out osteomyelitis as causing the bone deformities. A basic metabolic profile is another blood test often performed to test for the contributing factors of diabetes, bone diseases, cancer, infections, and alcoholism.3Shah, Mrugeshkumar et al. “Charcot Arthropathy.” Medscape Drugs and Diseases (2020): https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1234293-overview
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