The complementary effects of galvanic current electrical stimulation associated with conservative treatment to increase vasodilation in patients with Raynaud’s phenomenon: a randomized trial

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the effectiveness of an electrotherapy intervention with galvanic current on symptoms associated with Raynaud’s phenomenon. Design: Single-blind randomized controlled trial, parallel design (1:1 ratio) and intention to treat analysis. Setting: Virgen de las Nieves Hospital, Granada, Spain. Subjects: Thirty-four participants with Raynaud’s phenomenon, with a mean (SD) age of 43.43 (17.62) years. Interventions: The patients were randomly assigned to a control group with conservative treatment (anti-inflammatory, vasodilatory and analgesic drugs) or an intervention group that received conservative treatment and vasodilatory electrical stimulation during seven weeks, three times/week for a total of 20 sessions. Main measures: The primary outcome was the number of attacks). Secondary outcomes were: pain, peripheral blow flow, oxygen saturation, upper limb disability, central sensitization, pain catastrophizing and temperature recovery. All outcomes were assessed at baseline, post-treatment and at two months of follow-up. Results: The galvanic current electrotherapy group showed significantly greater improvements in the number of attacks (mean difference 26.3, 95% CI 14.4−38.3), pre-cold stress pain (95% CI 0.6−2.4), radial artery blood flow (95% CI -7.8 ≥ x ≤1.3), ulnar artery blood flow (95% CI -8.63−0.60), oxygen saturation (95% CI -1.7 ≥ x ≤ -0.29), upper limb disability (95% CI 1.1−22.3), central sensitization (95% CI 6.7−18.2) and temperature recovery (95% CI -5.7 ≥ x ≤ -0.32), than the conservative treatment group. Conclusions: This study suggests that a complementary treatment with galvanic current in combination to conservative approach is superior to conservative applied as isolate, in reducing the clinical manifestations and disability in Raynaud’s phenomenon.