Why Do People with Diabetes Get Gangrene?

People with diabetes get gangrene more easily for two big reasons, according to a 2016 article posted on healthline.com. The first reason is that abnormally high glucose levels in the blood damage nerves and make it easier to sustain an injury without noticing. The second reason is that blood flow is also affected by the disease process. Normal blood flow carries an adequate number of infection-fighting cells as well life-giving oxygen and nutrients to sustain healthy tissue.

Once people with diabetes sustain injuries to their toes or feet because of a lessening of sensation, the wounds may take much longer to heal because blood flow is reduced considerably. The immune cells are not as plentiful in the region without the full supply of blood that healthy patients would experience. The slow-healing wounds are more likely to get infected.

How Are Gangrene and Blood Flow Connected?

Gangrene is basically dead tissue threatening the health of living tissue where it resides. If blood flow is cut off to a region of the body through disease, injury, and resultant infection, those cells die. This dead tissue has to be removed through a process known as debridement to prevent the bacteria from spreading via the bloodstream. Without treatment or management, patients with gangrene can succumb to a systemic infection stemming from this traveling bacteria.

Is Gangrene Associated with Other Diseases?

In addition to people with diabetes, people with cardiovascular compromises such as peripheral artery disease (PAD), arteriosclerosis, or Reynaud’s disease, are more prone to developing gangrenous conditions. These medical conditions all affect the integrity of the blood vessels and reduce blood flow.

According to the Mayo Clinic, recent traumatic injury to the body can increase the likelihood of developing gangrene as well such as frostbite, a gunshot wound, or even surgery. Conditions or treatments which suppress the immune system also work to increase the risk of gangrene. People with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or those undergoing chemotherapy or radiation therapy for cancer could be endangered.

Are There Different Types of Gangrene?

There are several types of gangrene, but some are more common while others are extremely rare in occurrence. There is dry, wet, and Fournier’s gangrene to name just a few. Dry gangrene is due to a lack of oxygen getting to an area because blood flow has been diminished for some reason. The area discolors to a wrinkled dark green, purple or black tone. Wet gangrene usually looks wet and is characterized by swelling and blisters. It is most common in burn or frostbite victims, but can also affect a diabetic with a minor toe or foot injury.

Fournier’s gangrene is a rare, necrotizing fasciitis associated with the urinary tract and other genital infections. It is limited to the perineal and genital region and is more common in men. According to the Annals of Internal Medicine in May 2019, three times as many cases of Fournier’s gangrene have been diagnosed in patients taking sodium glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors in the past six years than in the last 35 with people taking other blood-sugar lowering medications. It is associated mainly with diabetics.

Join a Free Diabetes Medications & Flesh-Eating Infection Lawsuit Investigation

The type-2 diabetes medications linked to the flesh-eating infection include:

• Invokana
• Invokamet/Invokamet XR
• Farxiga
• Xigduo XR
• Qtern
• Jardiance
• Glyxambi
• Synjardy/Synjardy XR
• Steglato
• Segluromet
• Steglujan