Assessment of Multimodal Reactions on Specific Stimulation Tests for Revealing Early Risk of Diabetic Foot

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus type 2 became an epidemic in the 21st century. For many people diabetes remains asymptomatic for a long-term and leads to severe cardiovascular and neurological disorders such as diabetic foot. All pathological and cardiovascular changes and damages can be identified; however, all methods are subjective and noninformative. For these reason, a novel methodology for diabetic foot assessment in early stages is necessary. The aim of this study is to elaborate a pilot version of method which allows to verify the hypothesis that specific stimulation tests and analysis of synchronous multimodal time dependences of physiological signals can reveal the early risk of diabetic foot and identify the type of damage. Ten participants were enrolled in the study. The experiment consists of three different tests: slow breathing, cold, and occlusion. Data stream from all synchronous sources was processed and used to calculate secondary parameters: heart rate variability, pulse arrival time, perfusion factor, and temperature of foot regions. The preliminary results of both groups have shown that specific stimulation tests induced significantly different changes. Preliminary conclusion can be made that proposed method be used for screening of early diabetic foot risks and probably for identification of type of damage.