Short-term effect of spinal cord electrical stimulation on peripheral vascular disease in diabetes patients

  Background   Diabetes peripheral vascular disease and diabetes foot patients, methods for improving diabetes peripheral vascular disease are gradually increasing. As a clear method to improve the circulation of lower limbs, spinal cord electrical stimulation has been concerned by specialists. How to simply and effectively use spinal cord electrical stimulation to improve the circulation of lower limbs in diabetic patients are still lacking of researches.

  Objective   To observe the therapeutic effect of minimally invasive short course spinal cord stimulation (SCS) on diabetic patients with peripheral vascular disease.

  Methods   From January to December in 2021, patients with diabetes peripheral vascular disease in our department were selected. Puncture cylindrical electrodes were placed in the epidural space to continuously stimulate the spinal cord for treatment. The visual analog scale (VAS) of patients at various time points before and after treatment were compared. The temperature gun was used to test the temperature differences at five points of lower limbs before and after treatment, and the infrared thermal imager was used to test the temperature change of patients' body surface, the changes of ankle brachial index of affected limb before and after operation were compared.

  Results   Twelve males and 8 females were included with age ranging from 51 to 87 years. The VAS scores of 20 patients on the 1st, 3rd and 7th day after electrode implantation (preoperative VAS was 5.6 ± 1.7, and the VAS on the 1st, 3rd and 7th day after operation were 4.0 ± 1.3, 2.5 ± 0.8, 2.3 ± 0.7, respectively) were significantly lower than those before treatment (P＜0.001); After treatment, the temperature at each detection point of the lower limb was significantly higher than that before treatment. The preoperative temperature of back of the foot was (36.03 ± 0.13)℃, and it increased to (36.74 ± 0.14)℃ at 7 days after treatment; the plantar temperature was (35.90 ± 0.17)℃ before treatment, and it increased to (36.44 ± 0.23)℃ at 7 days after treatment (P＜0.001). Compared with before treatment, the infrared thermography of the healthy side and the affected side showed a significant increase in body surface temperature at 1 week after treatment.

  Conclusion   Short-term SCS can alleviate the pain of patients with diabetes peripheral vascular disease and improve the circulation of lower limbs, with less adverse reactions, safety and effectiveness, which can be effectively applied to the treatment of diabetes foot and diabetes peripheral vascular disease.