Low-field thoracic magnetic stimulation increases peripheral oxygen saturation levels in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients: A single-blind, sham-controlled, crossover study

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 may cause low oxygen saturation (SpO(2)) and respiratory failure in patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Hence, increased SpO(2) levels in COVID-19 patients could be crucial for their quality of life and recovery. This study aimed to demonstrate that a 30-minute single session of dorsal low-field thoracic magnetic stimulation (LF-ThMS) can be employed to increase SpO(2) levels in COVID-19 patients significantly. Furthermore, we hypothesized that the variables associated with LF-ThMS, such as frequency, magnetic flux density, and temperature in the dorsal thorax, might be correlated to SpO(2) levels in these patients. Here we employed an LF-ThMS device to noninvasively deliver a pulsed magnetic field from 100 to 118 Hz and 10.5 to 13.1 milliTesla (i.e., 105 to 131 Gauss) to the dorsal thorax. These values are within the intensity range of several pulsed electromagnetic field devices employed in physical therapy worldwide. We designed a single-blind, sham-controlled, crossover study on 5 COVID-19 patients who underwent 2 sessions of the study (real and sham LF-ThMS) and 12 patients who underwent only the real LF-ThMS. We found a statistically significant positive correlation between magnetic flux density, frequency, or temperature, associated with the real LF-ThMS and SpO(2) levels in all COVID-19 patients. However, the 5 patients in the sham-controlled study did not exhibit a significant change in their SpO(2) levels during sham stimulation. The employed frequencies and magnetic flux densities were safe for the patients. We did not observe adverse events after the LF-ThMS intervention. This study is a proof-of-concept that a single session of LF-ThMS applied for 30 minutes to the dorsal thorax of 17 COVID-19 patients significantly increased their SpO(2) levels. However, future research will be needed to understand the physiological mechanisms behind this finding. The study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT04895267, registered on May 20, 2021) retrospectively registered. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04895267.