What are the most common systemic diseases that manifest themselves as lower extremity wounds?
Diabetes is a common finding for Michael S. Miller, DO, Richard Schlanger, MD, and Lawrence Karlock, DPM. Drs. Karlock and Miller also see lower-extremity wounds in patients with sickle cell anemia and rheumatoid arthritis, and Dr. Miller also sees seronegative arthritis in patients. Dr. Miller also sees conditions including inflammatory bowel disease, hematologic malignancies, autoimmune conditions such as lupus, collagen vascular disease and vasculitis. For Dr. Schlanger, the most common systemic diseases manifesting in lower extremity wounds are vascular conditions like venous disease, peripheral vascular disease and collagen vascular disease. He also sees AIDS, IV drug use and end-stage renal disease. He notes that many of those conditions “meld together in a collage of comorbidities.” Dr. Karlock adds that he encounters patients with pyoderma gangrenosum and sarcoidosis that manifest as lower extremity wounds. Q: When patients present with a chronic, non-healing wound, what workup
