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Further observations on the unique efficacy of picoTesla range magnetic fields in Parkinson's disease.
Sandyk R, Derpapas K.
NeuroCommunication Research Laboratories, Danbury, CT 06811.
External application of picoTesla range magnetic fields (MF) has been
reported recently to be efficacious in the treatment of patients with
Parkinson's disease (PD) including those who manifest levodopa-related
dyskinesias. In the present communication, we present four additional
Parkinsonian patients who showed, within a brief period of time, marked
improvement in motor symptoms after therapy with MF. Three of the
patients had been maintained on antiParkinsonian medication during
treatment with MF while the fourth patient had never received
pharmacotherapy. Improvement with magnetic therapy was noted not only in
the motor sphere (resting tremor, gait apraxia, postural instability),
but also in nonmotor aspects of the disease including mood, sleep, pain,
anorexia, autonomic, and cognitive functions attesting to the unique
efficacy of external picoTesla range MF in the treatment of
Parkinsonism. Poverty of facial expression (hypomimia, "masked facies"),
which correlates with the degree of striatal dopaminergic deficiency,
is one of the clinical hallmarks of PD reflecting the severity of
hypokinesia and rigidity in the orofacial musculature. In this report,
we emphasize the effects of MF on the hypomimia of PD and provide visual
documentation illustrating the changes in the patients' facial
expression which follow treatment with MF.
Int J Neurosci. 1993 Mar-Apr;69(1-4):167-83.
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Treatment of Parkinson's disease with magnetic fields reduces the requirement for antiparkinsonian medications.
Sandyk R.
NeuroCommunication Research Laboratories, Danbury, CT 06811.
Recently, I reported that extracranial treatment with picoTesla range
magnetic fields (MF) is an effective, safe, and revolutionary modality
in the management of Parkinsonism including those patients manifesting
levodopa-induced motor complications. This treatment, which has emerged
as a potentially more advantageous modality than pharmacologic therapy,
also produces improvements in nonmotor aspects of the disease including
mood, cognitive functions, sleep, pain, appetite, autonomic functions,
and sexual behavior, which are usually minimally, if at all, ameliorated
by long term therapy with levodopa or anticholinergic agents. The
present communication concerns a 69 year old Parkinsonian patient who,
following a series of two treatments with extracranial picoTesla range
MF on two separate days, improved to the point where he was able to
discontinue most of his antiparkinsonian medications for a period of two
weeks without experiencing deterioration in symptoms. On the third week
he began to develop recurrence of symptoms and resumed taking his
regular medications. At the end of the fourth week the patient received a
series of four magnetic treatments on four successive days after he
completely discontinued his antiparkinsonian medications. During this
period he experienced a remarkable improvement in motor disability as
well as in cognitive functions (i.e., visuospatial performance), mood,
sleep, appetite, bowel functions and resolution of pain in the lower
extremity. This report attests to the antiparkinsonian efficacy of
picoTesla range MF and suggests that this treatment, when applied on a
regular basis, may reduce the requirement for antiparkinsonian
medications. This observation, when confirmed in a larger cohort of
patients, may carry important implications for the therapy of
Parkinsonism as it may offer an alternative treatment for patients who
develop levodopa failure or experience intolerable side effects from
dopaminergic medication. The observation that magnetic treatment
improved the patient's symptoms while being off dopaminergic therapy
supports the role of nondopaminergic mechanisms in the pathophysiology
of Parkinsonism.
Int J Neurosci. 1994 Jan-Feb;74(1-4):191-201.
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A drug naive parkinsonian patient successfully treated with weak electromagnetic fields.
Sandyk R.
NeuroCommunication Research Laboratories, Danbury, CT 06811, USA.
Brief cerebral application of picotesla (pT) electromagnetic fields
(EMF) has been demonstrated an efficacious, revolutionary treatment
modality for the therapy of Parkinson's disease (PD) with clinical
benefits being evident in all motor aspects of the disease as well as in
nonmotor symptoms such as mood, sleep, pain, sexual dysfunction,
autonomic regulation and cognitive functions. Since treatment with pT
EMF has involved PD patients who were treated with dopaminergic agents
at the time they received EMF there may have been a synergistic
interaction between dopaminergic drugs and EMF. The present
communication concerns a 49-year-old male Parkinsonian patient with
stage 3 disability on the Hoehn and Yahr scale (1967) who, in response
to brief extracranial applications of pT EMF, demonstrated a marked
improvement in motor, depressive symptomatology and cognitive functions
and was classified as stage 1 several weeks later. This case is
remarkable in that the patient did not receive treatment with
dopaminergic drugs prior to or during the course of EMF therapy. It
suggests that (a) pT range EMF may be efficacious as a monotherapy for
PD and should be considered also as a treatment modality for de novo
diagnosed patients, and (b) application of these EMF improves
Parkinsonism by a mechanism which involves, among others, augmentation
of dopaminergic and serotonergic neurotransmission.
Int J Neurosci. 1994 Nov;79(1-2):99-110.
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Effect of weak electromagnetic fields on the amplitude of the pattern reversal VEP response in Parkinson's disease.
Sandyk R.
NeuroCommunication Research Laboratories, Danbury, CT 06811, USA.
Visual evoked potential (VEP) studies are widely used for the
diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) and are also useful in monitoring
the effects of various therapeutic modalities in the disease.
Prolongation of the VEP latencies has been demonstrated in patients with
MS and in other neurodegenerative disorders including Parkinson's
disease (PD), a disorder characterized by deficient cerebral dopamine
(DA) functions. Pharmacological and biochemical studies have
demonstrated a positive correlation between the amplitude of the VEP
response and cerebral DA levels. Since brief, extracerebral applications
of picotesla (pT) range flux intensity electromagnetic fields (EMFs) of
low frequency have been shown to produce rapid improvement in motor and
cognitive symptoms in PD, it is expected that application these EMFs
would lead also to an increase in the amplitude of VEP response. This
report documents three randomly selected PD patients who, following two
successive brief extracerebral applications of pT range EMFs, showed an
almost 3-fold increase of the mean pretreatment amplitude of the pattern
reversal VEP in response to monocular stimulation. One patient
underwent also a placebo EMF treatment which did not result in a
significant change in the posttreatment amplitude. The study
demonstrates that in Parkinsonian patients extracerebral application of
these EMFs rapidly increases in amplitude of the VEP response and, by
inference, cerebral DA levels presumably by increasing DA release.
Int J Neurosci. 1996 Feb;84(1-4):165-75.
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Reversal of an acute parkinsonian syndrome associated with multiple sclerosis by application of weak electromagnetic fields.
Sandyk R.
NeuroCommunication Research Laboratories, Danbury, CT 06811, USA.
The occurrence of movement disorders and particularly Parkinsonian
symptoms is uncommon in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) despite
the rather frequent presence of demyelinating plaques in the basal
ganglia. This disparity between the occurrence of clinical symptoms in
MS and the distribution of demyelinating plaques suggests that
impairment of neurotransmitter functions rather than demyelination may
be critical to the clinical manifestations of the disease. A 48 year old
woman with remitting-progressive MS developed a bilateral Parkinsonian
syndrome in association with acute emotional stress which resolved after
she received two brief successive extracerebral applications of low
frequency picotesla flux density electromagnetic fields (EMFs). It is
believed that in this patient Parkinsonism may have existed in a
subclinical form and that acute stress, which previously has been shown
to precipitate symptoms of Parkinson's disease, triggered the onset of
Parkinsonism by further reducing dopaminergic and serotonergic
neurotransmission in the basal ganglia. The rapid reversal of the
Parkinsonian syndrome by EMFs was related to a presumed augmentation of
dopaminergic and serotonergic neurotransmission which, on the basis of
CSF studies, is reduced in chronic MS patients. The efficacy of EMFs in
the treatment of Parkinson's disease had been documented previously but
this report demonstrates that this treatment modality is beneficial also
for the treatment of Parkinsonism developing in the setting of other
neurodegenerative disorders.
Int J Neurosci. 1996 Jul;86(1-2):33-45.
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Treatment with weak electromagnetic fields restores dream recall in a parkinsonian patient.
Sandyk R.
Department of Neuroscience, Institute for Biomedical Engineering and
Rehabilitation Services, Touro College, Dix Hills, NY 11746, USA.
Absent or markedly reduced REM sleep with cessation of dream recall
has been documented in numerous neurological disorders associated with
subcortical dementia including Parkinson's disease, progressive
supranuclear palsy and Huntington's chorea. This report concerns a 69
year old Parkinsonian patient who experienced complete cessation of
dreaming since the onset of motor disability 13 years ago. Long term
treatment with levodopa and dopamine (DA) receptor agonists
(bromocriptine and pergolide mesylate) did not affect dream recall.
However, dreaming was restored after the patient received three
treatment sessions with AC pulsed picotesla range electromagnetic fields
(EMFs) applied extracranially over three successive days. Six months
later, during which time the patient received 3 additional treatment
sessions with EMFs, he reported dreaming vividly with intense colored
visual imagery almost every night with some of the dreams having sexual
content. In addition, he began to experience hypnagogic imagery prior to
the onset of sleep. Cessation of dream recall has been associated with
right hemispheric dysfunction and its restoration by treatment with EMFs
points to right hemispheric activation, which is supported by
improvement in this patient's visual memory known to be subserved by the
right temporal lobe. Moreover, since DA neurons activate REM sleep
mechanisms and facilitate dream recall, it appears that application of
EMFs enhanced DA activity in the mesolimbic system which has been
implicated in dream recall. Also, since administration of pineal
melatonin has been reported to induce vivid dreams with intense colored
visual imagery in normal subjects and narcoleptic patients, it is
suggested that enhanced nocturnal melatonin secretion was associated
with restoration of dream recall in this patient. These findings
demonstrate that unlike chronic levodopa therapy, intermittent pulsed
applications of AC picotesla EMFs may induce in Parkinsonism
reactivation of reticular-limbic-pineal systems involved in the
generation of dreaming.
Int J Neurosci. 1997 Jun;90(1-2):75-86.
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Reversal of a body image disorder (macrosomatognosia) in Parkinson's disease by treatment with AC pulsed electromagnetic fields.
Sandyk R.
Department of Neuroscience, Institute for Biomedical Engineering and
Rehabilitation Services of Touro College, Dix Hills, NY 11746, USA.
Macrosomatognosia refers to a disorder of the body image in which the
patient perceives a part or parts of his body as disproportionately
large. Macrosomatognosia has been associated with lesions in the
parietal lobe, particularly the right parietal lobe, which integrates
perceptual-sensorimotor functions concerned with the body image. It has
been observed most commonly in patients with paroxysmal cerebral
disorders such as epilepsy and migraine. The Draw-a-Person-Test has been
employed in neuropsychological testing to identify disorders of the
body image. Three fully medicated elderly Parkinsonian patients who
exhibited, on the Draw-a-Person Test, macrosomatognosia involving the
upper limbs are presented. In these patients spontaneous drawing of the
figure of a man demonstrated disproportionately large arms. Furthermore,
it was observed that the arm affected by tremor or, in the case of
bilateral tremor, the arm showing the most severe tremor showed the
greatest abnormality. This association implies that dopaminergic
mechanisms influence neuronal systems in the nondominant right parietal
lobe which construct the body image. After receiving a course of
treatments with AC pulsed electromagnetic fields (EMFs) in the picotesla
flux density applied transcranially, these patients' drawings showed
reversal of the macrosomatognosia. These findings demonstrate that
transcranial applications of AC pulsed EMFs affect the neuronal systems
involved in the construction of the human body image and additionally
reverse disorders of the body image in Parkinsonism which are related to
right parietal lobe dysfunction.
Int J Neurosci. 1998 Feb;93(1-2):43-54.
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