Introduction and importance: Refractory diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) do not easily respond to standard therapeutic approaches and the prevention of DFU-related amputation is one of the most important aspects of treatment in patients with DFU.
Case presentation: The present case report is 51-year old male patient with a history of 5-years type 2 diabetes who has had DFU on the first distal phalanx foot of his right foot with size of 2 × 2 cm. The patient was repeatedly hospitalized for receiving DFU treatment, he did not recover using routine wound treatment. The patient was transferred to our wound care team. After ten sessions (one session every 48 h) of maggot debridement therapy (MDT) using sterile Lucilia sericata, the patients' DFU had completely healed.
Clinical discussion: DFUs can change patient's quality of life and lead to infection, amputation, sepsis, and finally death. Thus, efficient therapeutic methods are necessary for management of DFUs.
Conclusion: This case report was revealed that the maggot therapy is an affordable and highly efficacious treatment method to enhance the recuperation of DFUs. Therefore, it is recommended that wound care teams use this approach to speed up the healing process.
Keywords: Amputation; Case report; Debridement; Diabetic foot; Iran; Larva.
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