Cultura

Neurotechnology, Health and Equality: Legal Challenges and Universal Access in the Digital Age

VOLUME 21, 2024

The Role of Targeted Infra-popliteal Endovascular Angioplasty to Treat Diabetic Foot Ulcers Using the Angiosome Model: A Systematic Review

VOLUME 6, 2023

Diana Marcela Peña-Cuéllar, Fernando Luna-Salas, Julián Andrés Roa Méndez

Abstract

This article analyzes the ethical and legal challenges posed by the development of neuroscience and neurotechnology in relation to equitable access to these tools for therapeutic purposes. The research examines the impact of neurotechnologies on the right to health and the right to equality, questioning the need to recognize new rights, known as neurodights, to address the inequalities arising from their use and distribution. Through a systematic review of normative, doctrinal, and bioethical sources and international human rights instruments, as well as the analysis of emblematic cases, it is argued that existing rights, interpreted in an evolutionary and systematic manner, are sufficient to provide protection against neurotechnological risks. In particular, it is argued that the right to equality, in its material dimension, allows for the construction of legal criteria aimed at guaranteeing fair and non-discriminatory access to therapeutic neurotechnologies, preventing their concentration in privileged sectors. Finally, the challenge lies not in creating new rights, but in strengthening state responsibility, the ethical regulation of innovation, and the implementation of public policies that ensure that neurotechnologies contribute to human well-being without deepening existing structural inequalities.

Keywords : .
Erin Saricilar
Lecture in accounting. University of Basrah, College of Administration and Economics, Department of Accounting.

Abstract

Atherosclerotic disease significantly impacts patients with type 2 diabetes, who often present with recalcitrant peripheral ulcers. The angiosome model of the foot presents an opportunity to perform direct angiosome-targeted endovascular interventions to maximise both wound healing and limb salvage. A systematic review was performed, with 17 studies included in the final review. Below-the-knee endovascular interventions present significant technical challenges, with technical success depending on the length of lesion being treated and the number of angiosomes that require treatment. Wound healing was significantly improved with direct angiosome-targeted angioplasty, as was limb salvage, with a significant increase in survival without major amputation. Indirect angioplasty, where the intervention is applied to collateral vessels to the angiosomes, yielded similar results to direct angiosome-targeted angioplasty. Applying the angiosome model of the foot in direct angiosome-targeted angioplasty improves outcomes for patients with recalcitrant diabetic foot ulcers in terms of primary wound healing, mean time for complete wound healing and major amputation-free survival.
Keywords : Diabetic foot ulcer, angiosome, angioplasty