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"A former soldier cut off two of his gangrene-ridden toes with a pair of tin metal pliers without anesthetic in his living room after becoming frustrated at a six-week delay to being operated on by the National Health Service (NHS)."
[...] "He says he eventually developed gangrene and his doctor said his infected toes would have to be removed. Rather than wait six weeks for the operation, Dibbins took matters into his own hands.
He says the operation, performed without pain killers and in his living room while biting on a rolled up towel, took about an hour. His wife of 40 years was in the house but says she did not want to look.
“Knowing that it would take at least another six weeks to get me in front of a surgeon again, that’s when I bit the bullet and cut off the toes,” Dibbins told the North Devon Journal.
“I did it because it’s what had to be done. My doctor told me my toes were going to kill me."
https://www.rt.com/uk/364152-gangrene-frostbite-toes-cut/
(Score: 1) by Francis on Sunday October 30 2016, @04:04PM
Nope, I've seen pictures of those kinds of infections and amputation isn't usually necessary unless there's more than just a massive infection. If a 2nd world country like Georgia doesn't need to amputate for that, then I'm not sure why a developed place like Britain would still be doing it.
The only reasons to amputate a limb are because the vascular system, bones or nervous system has become so damaged that the limb no longer functions. Basically, if you haven't got adequate bloodflow the tissue will die, infection or no infection. And if it no longer has connections back to the brain, it's pretty much inevitable that something will happen to require amputation.
The pictures tend to be rather gruesome, but I've seen feet that were black with infection that were ultimately saved through appropriate treatment. Basically they cut the foot open and slather a mixture of phages into the wound and let it drain. In most cases the amputation isn't necessary.
The worst thing about it is that the only reason that treatment isn't available in the UK is that it can't pass the necessary drug trials fast enough to be approved. You use a different strain on each infection and those would have to be independently approved.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Sunday October 30 2016, @04:41PM
I have seen phage therapy and it does look promising for infections. However, in diabetes the problem is generally loss of circulation due to damage to the blood vessels and nerve damage. Frostbite is similar It is not not an infectious process.
Diabetic ulcers might be helped by hyperbaric oxygen, but dry gangrene means the disease process is too far along for that.