BACKGROUND:Traditional therapeutic methods of diabetes combined with lower limb artery obturation showed poor outcomes such as drug or intervention.Stem cell transplantation is a new method to treat this disease in recant years,and has obtained good outcomes in the clinic.Evaluating the therapeutic outcomes of stem cell transplantation has great damage and cost much.Thus,color Doppler ultrasound is used to examine non-invasion in the artery of the lower extremity,which shows important clinical value.OBJECTIVE:To evaluate improvement of lower extremity artery lesion following autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation using color Doppler ultrasound,and to compare with results of angiography.METHODS:A total of 41 patients diagnosed as having diabetes combined with lower limb artery obturation were included.Following administration of recombinant human granulocyte-colony stimulating factor(rhG-CSF)(150 μg/d)for 5 days,peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMNCs)were mobilized and harvested by using a separator at day 5 to prepare stem cell suspension,and which were injected intramuscularly in the diseased extremities(3×109 per limb).The clinical and laboratory findings were monitored every week for 3 months to 1 year following stem cell transplantation.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:After stem cell transplantation,severe pain lameness,local cool-feeling and ulcer were significantly improved,and ankle-brachial index was increased obviously(P＜0.01).Color Doppler ultrasonography measurement showed that peak systolic velocity in diseased extremities was significantly increased post-transplantation(P＜0.01).Following transplantation,blood flow of the lower limb arterial canal was improved to different extents;collateral vessels were increased surrounding obstructed artery and in muscles.Spiral CT for new collateral vessel formation were showed increased.No related complication or adverse effects were observed in 41 patients during observation.Results indicated that color Doppler ultrasound can exactly rapidly examine and assess blood transport improvement in the lower limbs following stem cell transplantation,which is identical to results from angiography.It also provides reliable evidences for the diagnosis on the transplantation of stem cells for the treatment of diabetes combined with lower limb artery obturation.