The use of magnetic devices in treating sexual disorders in men
The use of magnetic devices in treating sexual disorders in men An effect was studied of appliances for magnetotherapy on sexual function of 105 men presenting with sexual problems. A total of 96 sexological patients were examined according to a general programme, to study placebo-effect. The magnetic field beneficial effect was recordable in 70-80 % of the patients, that of placebo in 33 % men. It is suggested that augmentation of sexual activity is associated with an increase in cavernous bloodflow. Gorpinchenko II. Ispol ‘zovanie magnitnykh apparatov v lechenii seksual’nykh rasstroĭstv u muzhehin [The use of magnetic devices in treating sexual disorders in men]. Lik Sprava. 1995 Mar-Apr;(3-4):95-7. Russian. PMID: 8819933. Source
Local negative pressure and magnetic field in therapy of patients with erectile dysfunction
Local negative pressure and magnetic field in therapy of patients with erectile dysfunction Combined treatment with local negative pressure and pulsating magnetic field conducted in 116 patients with erectile dysfunction aged 20-60 years produced optimal treatment results. Recovery and improvement of the erectile function were achieved in 85.7% patients given local vacuum-magnetotherapy. Karpukhin IV, Kazantsev SN. [Local negative pressure and magnetic field in therapy of patients with erectile dysfunction]. Vopr Kurortol Fizioter Lech Fiz Kult. 2007 Jul-Aug;(4):35-8. Russian. PMID: 17882824. Source
Transcranial Low Voltage Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields in Patients with Treatment-Resistant Depression
Transcranial Low Voltage Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields in Patients with Treatment-Resistant Depression Approximately 30% of patients with depression are resistant to antidepressant drugs. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has been found effective in combination with antidepressants in this patient group. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antidepressant effect of a new principle using low-intensity transcranially applied pulsed electromagnetic fields (T-PEMFs) in combination with antidepressants in patients with treatment-resistant depression. This was a sham-controlled double-blind study comparing 5 weeks of active or sham T-PEMFs in patients with treatment-resistant major depression. The antidepressant treatment, to which patients had been resistant, was unchanged 4 weeks before and during the study period. Weekly assessments were performed using both clinician-rated and patient-rated scales. The T-PEMF equipment was designed as a helmet containing seven separate coils located over the skull that generated an electrical field in tissue with orders of magnitude weaker than those generated by rTMS equipment Patients on active T-PEMFs showed a clinically and statistically significant better outcome than patients treated with sham T-PEMFs, with an onset of action within the first weeks of therapy. Effect size on the Hamilton 17-item Depression Rating Scale was .62 (95% confidence interval .21–1.02). Treatment-emergent side effects were few and mild. Conclusion. The T-PEMF treatment was superior to sham treatment in patients with treatment-resistant depression. Few side effects were observed. Mechanism of the antidepressant action, in light of the known effects of PEMF stimulation to the brain, is discussed. Klaus Martiny, Marianne Lunde, Per Bech, Transcranial Low Voltage Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields in Patients with Treatment-Resistant Depression, Biological Psychiatry, Volume 68, Issue 2, 2010, Pages 163-169, ISSN 0006-3223,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2010.02.017. Source
Treatment of depression with low-strength transcranial pulsed electromagnetic fields: A mechanistic point of view
Treatment of depression with low-strength transcranial pulsed electromagnetic fields: A mechanistic point of view Mood disorders constitute a high burden for both patients and society. Notwithstanding the large arsenal of available treatment options, a considerable group of patients does not remit on current antidepressant treatment. There is an urgent need to develop alternative treatment strategies. Recently, low-strength transcranial pulsed electromagnetic field (tPEMFs) stimulation has been purported as a promising strategy for such treatment-resistant depression (TRD). The mode of action of this new technique is however largely unknown. Most studies more or less connect with the major hypotheses of depression and concern the effects of tPEMFs on brain metabolism, neuronal connectivity, brain plasticity, and the immune system. Relatively few studies paid attention to the possible chronobiologic effects of electromagnetic fields. Conclusion. Weak magnetic fields influence divergent neurobiological processes. The antidepressant effect of tPEMFs may be specifically attributable to its effects on local brain activity and connectivity. Keywords: Biological clock; Circadian rhythms; Cryptochrome; Depression; MDD; PEMFs; TMS; Weak electromagnetic fields; tPEMFs. van Belkum SM, Bosker FJ, Kortekaas R, Beersma DG, Schoevers RA. Treatment of depression with low-strength transcranial pulsed electromagnetic fields: A mechanistic point of view. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2016 Nov 3;71:137-43. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2016.07.006. Epub 2016 Jul 21. PMID: 27449361. Source
Use of a PEMF to Treat Complex TBI with Brain Gauge and Rivermead Outcome Measures
Use of a PEMF to Treat Complex TBI with Brain Gauge and Rivermead Outcome Measures The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) claims that about 2.5 million cases of death, hospital admissions and emergency visits occurred in 2010 for traumatic brain injury (TBI), but this is expected to be a significant underestimate. It is also estimated that about 5.3 million Americans are living with post TBI disabilities. Certain populations are at higher risk for TBI with brain Gauge and Rivermead Outcome. For sports, between 1.6 and 3.8 million sports – related concussions are estimated to occur annually within the USA1. The military population is another major at-risk group, with screening indicating a prevalence rate of about 6.8%. TBI should not be considered as an acute event but as a trigger of progressive injury which may occur over hours, days, weeks, months and even years3. TBI is not only a progressive disease in the early phase, but, may also, evolve into a chronic disease. The development and implementation of guidelines for many aspects of the care of TBI have led to uncritical adoption of a “one-size-fits-all,” standardized approach. This approach largely considers people with TBI to be “average patients.” Because of the complexity of TBI and the uniqueness of individuals sustaining these injuries, care needs to be individualized. In most cases of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), also called concussion, the symptoms disappear in the first 2 to 4 weeks4. Symptoms that persist for months or years following the injury are considered persistent post-concussion syndrome (PCS). PCS symptoms include somatic symptoms (i.e., headache, blurry vision, anxiety, etc.) and cognitive (i.e., confusion, memory) deficits. In 20–40% of mTBI cases symptoms can still be present at 6 months post-injury, and in 10–20% of cases they may still be symptomatic at 1 year and beyond. This case report and discussion provide substantial support for the use of this specific 10 mT/100 Gauss pulsed magnetic field 10 Hz signal for 2 hours daily to not only significantly improve clinical function, but also to objectively produce positive neurological functional changes. Further research is clearly needed on a larger sample of individuals with TBI, whether complex or not, with different times after onset of injury. It is still unknown whether 2 hours per day of this type of PEMF therapy is optimal. Clearly, in this patient, 2 hours/day of therapy made significant improvements in subjective and objective measures of function, and with internal validity, significant loss of benefit with cessation of therapy. This loss of benefit with stopping treatment has been seen in other transcranial PEMF research. It remains to be seen whether durable, long-term benefits can be seen with longer-term PEMF therapy, whether other signal parameters could be optimized, including PEMF frequencies and intensities, and whether more permanent structural improvements in the injured brain may be found. William Pawluck, PEMF Training Academy, Journal of Science and Medicine, Vol 2, No. 1 (2020), DOI: 10.37714/JOSAM.V1|2.32 Source
Alzheimer’s Disease: Improvement of Visual Memory and Visuoconstructive Performance by Treatment with Picotesla Range Magnetic Fields
Alzheimer’s Disease: Improvement of Visual Memory and Visuoconstructive Performance Impairments in visual memory and visuoconstructive functions commonly occur in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Recently, I reported that external application of electromagnetic fields (EMF) of extremely low intensity (in the picotesla range) and of low frequency (in the range of 5Hz-8Hz) improved visual memory and visuoperceptive functions in patients with Parkinson’s disease. Since a subgroup of Parkinsonian patients, specifically those with dementia, have coexisting pathological and clinical features of AD, I investigated in two AD patients the effects of these extremely weak EMF on visual memory and visuoconstructive performance. The Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test as well as sequential drawings from memory of a house, a bicycle, and a man were employed to evaluate the effects of EMF on visual memory and visuoconstructive functions, respectively. In both patients treatment with EMF resulted in a dramatic improvement in visual memory and enhancement of visuoconstructive performance which was associated clinically with improvement in other cognitive functions such as short term memory, calculations, spatial orientation, judgement and reasoning as well as level of energy, social interactions, and mood. The report demonstrates, for the first time, that specific cognitive symptoms of AD are improved by treatment with EMF of a specific intensity and frequency. The rapid improvement in cognitive functions in response to EMF suggests that some of the mental deficits of AD are reversible being caused by a functional (i.e., synaptic transmission) rather than a structural (i.e., neuritic plaques) disruption of neuronal communication in the central nervous system. Reuven Sandyk (1994) Alzheimer’s Disease: Improvement of Visual Memory and Visuoconstructive Performance by Treatment with Picotesla Range Magnetic Fields, International Journal of Neuroscience, 76:3-4, 185-225, DOI: 10.3109/00207459408986003 Source
The impact of pulsed electromagnetic field therapy on blood pressure and circulating nitric oxide levels: a double-blind, randomized study in subjects with metabolic syndrome
The impact of pemf therapy on blood pressure and circulating nitric oxide levels: a double blind, randomized study Regulation of blood pressure (BP) is important in reducing the risk for cardiovascular disease. There is growing interest in non-pharmacological methods to treat BP including a novel approach using pulsed electromagnetic field therapy (PEMF). PEMF therapy has been proposed to impact physiological function at the cellular and tissue level and one possible mechanism is through an impact on endothelial function and nitric oxide (NO) related pathways. The focus of the present study was to evaluate the effect of PEMF on BP and NO in subjects with mild to moderate metabolic syndrome. For 12 weeks, 23 subjects underwent PEMF therapy and 21 subjects underwent sham therapy. BP was measured at rest and near the end of submaximal exercise pre- and 12 week post-therapy. Additionally, plasma NO was measured at similar time points. Conclusion. PEMF may increase plasma NO availability and improve BP at rest and during exercise. However, this beneficial effect appears to be more pronounced in subjects with existing hypertension. Chul-Ho Kim, Courtney M. Wheatley-Guy, Glenn M. Stewart, Dongwook Yeo, Win-Kuang Shen & Bruce D. Johnson (2020) The impact of pulsed electromagnetic field therapy on blood pressure and circulating nitric oxide levels: a double blind, randomized study in subjects with metabolic syndrome, Blood Pressure, 29:1, 47-54, DOI: 10.1080/08037051.2019.1649591 Source
A 60-Hz sinusoidal magnetic field induces apoptosis of prostate cancer cells through reactive oxygen species
A 60-Hz sinusoidal magnetic field induces apoptosis of prostate cancer cells through reactive oxygen species This study explores the effects of power frequency magnetic fields (MF) on cell growth in prostate cancer, DU145, PC3, and LNCaP cells were examined in vitro. The cells were exposed to various intensities and durations of 60-Hz sinusoidal MF in combination with various serum concentrations in the media. To analyze MF effects on cell growth, cell counting, trypan blue exclusion assay, Western blot analysis, flow cytometry, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), semi-quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), fluorescence microscopy, and spectrofluorometry were used. MF exposure induced significant cell growth inhibition and apoptosis in an intensity- and time-dependent manner, in which cell cycle arrest, cleaved Caspase-3, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) increased. Pretreatment with a Caspase-3 inhibitor or antioxidant, N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), significantly attenuated MF-induced cell growth inhibition and cell death. Media replacement experiments failed to show any notable change in the MF effects. Conclusions. These results demonstrate 60-Hz sinusoidal MF-activated cell growth inhibition of prostate cancer in vitro. Apoptosis together with cell cycle arrest were the dominant causes of the MF-elicited cell growth inhibition, mediated by MF-induced ROS. These results suggest that a possibility of using 60-Hz MF in radiation therapy of prostate cancer could usefully be investigated. Eui Kwan Koh, Byung-Kyu Ryu, Dong-Young Jeong, Iel-Soo Bang, Myung Hee Nam & Kwon-Seok Chae (2008) A 60-Hz sinusoidal magnetic field induces apoptosis of prostate cancer cells through reactive oxygen species, International Journal of Radiation Biology, 84:11, 945-955, DOI: 10.1080/09553000802460206 Source
A review on the use of magnetic fields and ultrasound for non-invasive cancer treatment
A review on the use of magnetic fields and ultrasound for non-invasive cancer treatment Current popular cancer treatment options, include tumor surgery, chemotherapy, and hormonal treatment. These treatments are often associated with some inherent limitations. For instances, tumor surgery is not effective in mitigating metastases; the anticancer drugs used for chemotherapy can quickly spread throughout the body and is ineffective in killing metastatic cancer cells. Therefore, several drug delivery systems (DDS) have been developed to target tumor cells, and release active biomolecule at specific site to eliminate the side effects of anticancer drugs. However, common challenges of DDS used for cancer treatment, include poor site-specific accumulation, difficulties in entering the tumor microenvironment, poor metastases and treatment efficiency. In this context, non-invasive cancer treatment approaches, with or without DDS, involving the use of light, heat, magnetic field, electrical field and ultrasound appears to be very attractive. These approaches can potentially improve treatment efficiency, reduce recovery time, eliminate infections and scar formation. In this review we focus on the effects of magnetic fields and ultrasound on cancer cells and their application for cancer treatment in the presence of drugs or DDS. Somoshree Sengupta, Vamsi K. Balla, A review on the use of magnetic fields and ultrasound for non-invasive cancer treatment, Journal of Advanced Research, Volume 14, 2018, Pages 97-111, ISSN 2090-1232, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jare.2018.06.003. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2090123218300778) Source
Effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy on Pain, Stiffness and Physical Function in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
Effects of PEMF Therapy on Pain, Stiffness and Physical Function in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis Effects of Knee osteoarthritis is currently one of the most common joint diseases worldwide. Pulsed electromagnetic field therapy has become popular among patients with knee osteoarthritis in recent years. However, the efficacy of this therapy on joint pain, joint stiffness and physical function is regarded as controversial in published clinical trials and systematic reviews. Several new randomized controlled studies on this subject have been published recently. The aim of this systematic review and metaanalysis is therefore to assess the efficacy of classical pulsed electromagnetic field therapy on patients with knee osteoarthritis, according to the methodology set out in the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. The results show that, despite showing no advantage in the management of pain and stiffness, pulsed electromagnetic field therapy is beneficial for improving clinical symptoms, such as physical function of the knee joint; thus it may be recommended as a supplementary therapy option for knee osteoarthritis. This review provides some evidence to help resolve current controversies about the efficacy of pulsed electromagnetic field therapy for knee osteoarthritis. Li CHEN, MD, PhD, Xin DUAN, MD, PhD, Fei XING, MD, Guoming LIU, MD, Min GONG, MD, Lang LI, MD, Ran CHEN, MD and Zhou XIANG, MD, PhD From the Department of Orthopedics and National Clinical Research Center for Geriatrics, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China. J Rehabil Med 2019; 51: 821–827 Source