Low-field Thoracic Magnetic Stimulation Increases Peripheral Oxygen Saturation Levels in Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Patients: a Single-blind, Sham-controlled, Crossover Study

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (CoV)-2 (SARS-CoV-2) may cause low SpO2 and respiratory failure in COVID-19 patients. Hence the increase of SpO2 levels could be crucial for the quality of life and recovery of these patients. In this clinical trial, the investigators (Saul M. Dominguez-Nicolas and Elias Manjarrez) propose that an electromagnetic device termed low-field thoracic magnetic stimulation (LF-ThMS) system could be employed for 30 minutes to increase SpO2 levels in COVID-19 participants. This device non-invasively delivers a pulsed magnetic field from 100 to 118 Hz and 10.5 to 13.1 milliTesla (mT) (i.e., 105 to 131 Gauss) to the dorsal thorax. In line with preliminary studies, the scientific literature, and other devices currently used in musculoskeletal magnetic therapy, these frequencies and magnetic flux densities are safe for the participants. The investigators designed a single-blind, sham-controlled, crossover study on COVID-19 participants who underwent two sessions of the study (real and sham LF-ThMS) and other participants who underwent only the real LF-ThMS. The study design includes a 30 minutes single-session of LF-ThMS to avoid confounding factors related to the spontaneous recovery by natural immunity, common in many COVID-19 patients several days after the contagion. Here the LF-ThMS protocol is not intended to demonstrate its use as therapy but is instead designed to examine the following physiological hypothesis. The hypothesis that there is a statistically significant correlation between magnetic flux density, frequency, or temperature associated with the real LF-ThMS and SpO2 levels in COVID-19 participants. In this context, the present clinical trial is relevant because it could motivate future randomized clinical trials to examine whether the LF-ThMS could be helpful as a potential therapy.