Ning Luo,1,* Yi-Chen Zeng,1,* Bai-Tian Fu,1 Je Wie Low,2 Jian-Qiao Fang1 

1The Third Clinical Medical College of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China; 2Institute of International Education of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Jian-Qiao Fang, The Third Clinical Medical College of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China, Email fangjianqiao7532@163.com

Introduction: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) affects patients’ quality of life significantly. To date, selecting the appropriate treatment remains challenging. While electroacupuncture (EA) has shown promise as an effective adjunct therapy for DPN, and infrared thermography (IRT) has been considered as a potential predictor of treatment efficacy, the evidence for both remains inconclusive. As such, the objectives of this trial are twofold: to ascertain the efficacy of EA for DPN, and to explore the feasibility of IRT as an adjunctive objective tool for efficacy assessment.
Methods: The study was designed as a randomized, parallel, controlled trial. It spanned over 6 weeks of treatment and an additional 4 weeks of follow-up. 104 eligible participants will be stratified for severity of disease: mild with Toronto clinical scoring system(TCSS) score 6– 8, moderate (TCSS score 9– 11), and severe (TCSS score 12– 19), and each level will be randomised in a 1:1 ratio into a EA group and waiting-list group. The waiting-list group received only the current conventional medication, while the EA group received an additional 12 EA sessions on top of the conventional medication. The primary outcome indicators is nerve conduction velocity (NCV), which will be tested at the baseline and week 6. Total clinical efficiency, TCSS, Clinical symptoms score of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Patient global impression of change(PGIC), Temperature of regions of interest (ROIs), and Physico chemical examination will be used as secondary outcome indicators. In addition, safety assessment will be determined based on adverse events during the trial.
Conclusion: The expected results of this study will determine whether EA improves efficacy in the treatment of DPN with an acceptable safety profile, and investigating variations in the efficacy of EA across different levels of DPN severity. Furthermore, it will explore the viability of IRT as an objective measure for evaluating treatment effectiveness for DPN.
Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier, NCT06054087.

Keywords: electroacupuncture, waiting-list, diabetic peripheral neuropathy, clinical trial, infrared thermography