Shape Changes in the Neuropathic Foot: Predicting and Correcting Bone and Joint Changes in Charcot Neuropathic Osteopathy

Today we are at a important crossroads in diagnostics. Charcot neuro-osteoarthropathy (CNO) is a rare, but severe and sometimes disabling complication of diabetes mellitus (DM). It is viewed as an inflammatory process in persons with neuropathy which results in injury to bones, joints, and soft tissues of the foot and ankle. According to current insights, disproportionate release of proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines results in activation of nuclear factor-κβ (NF-κβ) via the receptor activator of nuclear factor-κβ ligand-(RANKL) pathway, stimulating osteoclastogenesis. Whilst, classifications that define stages and deformity patterns give us little evidence to what changes in the bones and the soft tissues. In this part of the symposium we explore the assessment of deformities and their development and how the body is contorted in the development of CNO, and the clinical relevance in managing and surgically correcting these deformities. We define the current knowledge in diagnostics, and deformities and the clinical risks and the utilisation of AI and other technologies in defining the development of CNO its deformities and the application of this knowledge, in better understanding and defining the time to treat.