I am not sure if your question regarding EECP Therapy being beneficial in diabetic patients was referring to diabetic patients who also have coronary artery disease (CAD) or not, so I will address both scenarios.
Many patients who have CAD also unfortunately have diabetes as well. There has been some research looking at diabetic patients as a subgroup of patients who have CAD and who have been treated with EECP Therapy. In one study, Linnemeier et al. (2003) found that 43% of the 1532 patients in the study population from data from the International EECP Patient Registry (IEPR) had diabetes at baseline in addition to their CAD (p.453) and then concluded that in diabetic patients, “EECP is safe, well tolerated and associated with improvement in angina, functional status, and quality of life and that clinical benefit was maintained in most patients at one year” (p.457).
Many diabetics may not present for medical care until their CAD has progressed, in part due to small vessel disease and/or endothelial dysfunction and altered pain perception. EECP has demonstrated to have a positive effect on endothelial function as well as in patient’s symptoms with small vessel disease. Patients with CAD and diabetes often make excellent candidates for EECP Therapy since diabetic patients are at known increased risk for interventional complications.
For a complete EECP Therapy bibliography, please visit the physician section of the Vasomedical website at:
http://www.vasomedical.com. For a list of (IEPR) publications, please visit:
http://www.edc.gsph.pitt.edu/iepr/There is not any research that I am personally aware of on EECP Therapy in diabetic patients without CAD though I would definitely like to see research in this area pursued. EECP Therapy has been demonstrated to increase a patient’s cardiac output, and therefore, there is increased perfusion and circulation to all the organs throughout the body, which would absolutely be beneficial in diabetic patients. I believe it would make sense that diabetic patients would improve with EECP since many of the positive benefits associated with EECP are similar to the benefits of physical exercise and research has demonstrated that physical exercise definitely helps diabetic patients.
In my personal experience, I have heard reports from patients who undergo EECP Therapy for CAD and who have diabetes, that the symptoms from their diabetic neuropathy have improved. I have also seen a few EECP Therapy Centers that perform pre and post EECP blood sugars on their diabetic patients and report it is not unusual to see a drop of about 20mg/dL after completing one hour of EECP; I have also had some reports of patients who have had their dosage of oral diabetic medication lowered after undergoing a course of EECP Therapy.
Hope this is helpful,
Cindy
Cindy Watts, RN, BSN, CET
Senior Clinical Application Specialist
Vasomedical, Inc.
Reference:
Enhanced External Counterpulsation for the Relief of Angina in Patients with Diabetes: Safety, Efficacy and 1-Year Clinical Outcomes.
Linnemeier G, Rutter MK, Barsness G, Kennard ED, Nesto RW; IEPR Investigators.
American Heart Journal. 2003 Sep;146(3):453-458.
by jdhudspeth » Mon Feb 02, 2009 6:41 pm 
