WO1999001177A1

WO1999001177A1 - A method and device for treatment of hypertensive disease

Info

Publication number: WO1999001177A1
Application number: PCT/CA1998/000640
Authority: WO
Inventors: Vasili Tatarin; Oleg Borodiouk; Vasyl Bidnyk
Original assignee: Informo-Therapy, Ltd.
Priority date: 1997-07-01
Filing date: 1998-06-30
Publication date: 1999-01-14
Also published as: AU8098898A; UA29797A

Abstract

A method and device for magnetotherapeutic treatment of hypertension comprises exposing a patient inflicted with such disorder to damped trains of magnetic oscillations with a period of 20 - 1100 nanoseconds and an intensity from 0.12 to 18 microTesla and a decrement of damping of at least 0.05. The frequency of the trains is in the range of 0.7 to 1.3 of the patient's daily average pulse rate. A device for providing such treatment comprises a circuit including a pulse generator operating at the desired frequency, a pulse former and an emitter coil for generating the magnetic field.

Description

A METHOD AND DEVICE FOR TREATMENT OF HYPERTENSIVE DISEASE

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method and device for the treatment of hypertensive disease using alternating magnetic fields.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There have been many claims for the treatment of various illnesses and conditions using magnetic field therapy. In general the claimed benefits and suggested procedures have been vague, with unspecific health benefits from the application of static or dynamic magnetic fields (T. Barker Beng Electricity. Magnetism and the Body: Some Uses and

Abuses, J. Roy. Soc. Health 1994: vol. 114(2): 91- 97).

For the correction of heart activity, European Patent number 0496401 describes a device which generates electric pulses of a specific frequency to stimulate the muscles and nerves of the heart. The correction of heart rate is achieved due to the synchronization of the heart muscles with an external oscillator of the device. However, such device requires surgical intervention to place it next to the heart.

Various devices are known treating physiological conditions using oscillating magnetic fields. For example, German Patent number 4231888 teaches the use of magnetic field impulses having a frequency of 4-20 Hz for curing sexual disorders and/or improving male sexual potency.

Another magnetotherapeutic method and device is taught in Ukrainian Patent number

12565 wherein a patient is exposed to damped trains of magnetic oscillations with a period of 20 - 1100 nanoseconds and a field intensity between 0.12 to 18 microTesla (μT) and a decrement of damping of at least 0.05. The repetition rate between these trains is chosen depending upon the organ or organs being treated.

However, the above references do not teach a magnetotherapeutic method for treating hypertension. Moreover, since the application of magnetotherapy for a particular condition is dependent upon the specific field intensity and frequency, the above references do not suggest a use of such treatment for treating hypertension.

Therefore, there exists a need for an effective magnetotherapeutic method for the safe and non-intrusive treatment of hypertension. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides, in one embodiment, a method for treating hypertensive disease wherein the patient is exposed to damped trains of magnetic oscillations with a period 20 - 1100 nanoseconds and an intensity from about 0.12 to about 18 microTesla and a decrement of damping of at least 0.05 wherein the improvement comprises exposing the patient to magnetic oscillations having a frequency ranging from 0.7 to 1.3 of the patient's average pulse rate during a day.

The invention also provides a device for treating hypertensive disease comprising a housing containing a pulse generator, a pulse former, and an emitter coil wherein an output from the pulse generator is connected to an input of the pulse former and an output from the pulse former drives the emitter coil, and wherein the pulse generator operates at a frequency ranging from 0.7 to 1.3 of the patient's average pulse rate during a day.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features of the preferred embodiments of the invention will become more apparent in the following detailed description in which reference is made to the appended drawings wherein like elements are indicated with like numerals and wherein:

Figure 1 shows a schematic of the magnetotherapeutic device in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 is a circuit diagram for a preferred embodiment of invention.

Figure 3 illustrates a form of magnetic impulses formed with the magnetotherapeutic device of Figure 2.

Figure 4 illustrates an assembly for verifying of possibility of influence with weak alternating magnetic field to the heart activity.

Figure 5 shows a histogram of probability distribution of certain durations between computer impulses and a patient's pulse without influence (bars) and under influence (solid line).

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

As illustrated in Figure 1, a preferred embodiment of the device is shown schematically at 100. The device comprises an adjustable timing or pulse generator 10 which produces impulses at a desired frequency in the range of 0.5 to 2 Hz. The device also includes a pulse former 20, which forms impulses of current following the waveform of the generator, and an emitter coil 30.

Figure 2 illustrates a circuit diagram for the device of Figure 1. As shown, the pulse generator 10 includes resistors 11, 14 and 16, capacitors 12 and 15, a pnp transistor 13, and a npn transistor 17. Further, the pulse former 20 comprises a resistor 21, a pnp transistor 22, and a capacitor 23. The emitter coil 30 comprises, a flat coil 32, and a capacitor 31.

The power supply for the device is provided with positive and negative wires Vc and -Vc.

Resistor 11 is located between a base of transistor 17 (the emitter of which is connected to the negative wire -Vc of the power supply) and the positive wire Vc of the power supply. The emitter of transistor 13 is connected to the positive wire Vc, while the collector of transistor 13 is connected through capacitor 12 to the base of transistor 17 (the collector of which is connected through resistor 14 to a collector of the transistor 13). The base of transistor 13 is connected through a parallel concluded capacitor 15 and resistor 16 to the collector of transistor 17, and forms the output of the generator 10.

The output from generator 10 is connected to one pin of capacitor 23 which forms the input for the pulse former 20. The other pin of capacitor 23 is connected to the base of transistor 22. The base of transistor 22 is also connected to the positive wire Vc through resistor 21. The emitter of transistor 22 is directly connected to the positive wire Vc. The collector of transistor 22 forms the output of pulse former 20.

The output of the pulse former 20 forms the input of the emitter coil 30 by a connection to a first pin of flat coil 32, the second pin of which is connected to the negative wire -Vc of the power supply. A capacitor 31 is provided between the first pin of the flat coil 32 and positive wire Vc of the power supply. The output signal of the magnetotherapeutic device of the present invention is illustrated in Figure 3, where T is the repetition period of trains of magnetic impulses andp is the repetition of the magnetic impulses in the train. The ratio of the amplitudes of the impulses within the train, α/b, is related to the damping factor d of the oscillations of the magnetic field in the trains according to the following equation:

where α is the intensity of magnetic field formed by the device. In operation, the device of the present invention functions as follows. Timing or pulse generator 10 produces impulses at a selected repetition rate depending on the setting of its adjusting element. Any suitable oscillator circuit may be used such as that described above. The frequency of the pulses depends on the values of the resistors 11 and 16 and capacitors 12 and 14 at any given voltage of the power supply. The output signal of timing generator 10 is connected to the input of pulse former 20, which produces current impulses at its output. This may be any circuit that produces short duration pulses from either the positive or negative edge of the timing generator waveform. It may be, for example, a mono-stable multi-vibrator or may be as simple as a capacitor in series with the timing generator signal. In the preferred embodiment, the circuit is as shown in Figure 2 and comprises a capacitor 23 in the series with a resistor 21. The current impulse is formed in the collector of transistor 22.

The output of pulse former 20 drives emitter coil 30, which transforms the electrical impulses into an electromagnetic field. Any flat coil can be used for emitter 30. The inductance of the flat emitter coil 32 and capacitance of the capacitor 31 forms a resonant circuit at a frequency between 0.5 and 27 MHz. Each pulse of current from pulse former 20 thus produces a train of damped oscillations at the resonant frequency of the emitter coil, as illustrated in Figure 3. The desired field strength of the emitted magnetic component of the electromagnetic field is reached by using a suitable number of turns in the emitter coil, and the value of the current impulses produced with former 20. The frequency and damping of the emitted electromagnetic waves depends on the inductance, capacitance and Q factor of the coil. In the preferred embodiment the Q factor of the coil is chosen to produce damped oscillations with a decrement of damping of no less than 0.05.

The described magnetotherapeutic device for the treatment of hypertensive disease produces magnetic field impulses with an amplitude in the preferred range of 0.12-18 microTesla and a preferred frequency range of 0.7 to 1.3 of the patient's pulse rate averaged over the course of one day. This frequency is obtained by averaging the patient pulse during day and night periods. This average frequency could be determined as the middle frequency between pulses of the patient in calm and excited conditions. The choice of this frequency range of magnetic field impulses is a preferred embodiment of the invention, which has produced positive results in clinical trials. The described device is used over a period of 3 weeks by the patient for at least 4 hours each day. The distance for placing the device from the region of the body being treated is proportional to the field strength emitted by the device. With the devices of the present invention having the preferred characteristics described above, they should preferably be worn within 12 cm from the patient's chest.

As mentioned above, the preferred field strength for the devices is in the range from about 0.12 μT to about 18 μT. Field strengths below this range would be too weak to be of any effect and field strengths above this range may be unsafe.

The velocity of change of the magnetic field of the oscillations depends with repetition range and intensity of this oscillation only, and could be provided in any desirable range. The velocity is defined as the rate of change of the magnetic field over time. A desirable range for this velocity is known from the prior art (e.g. German Patent number 4231888), and would therefore be apparent to a person skilled in the art. Accordingly, it would be apparent that the result of multiplication of the amplitude of the formed magnetic field with the cycled frequency of the oscillations of the magnetic field should be no less then 35 Tesla/sec.

The inventors believe that the observed curative benefits of the present invention are due to the synchronization of the patient's cardiovascular system at instances when the patient's pulse coincides with the magnetic field impulses. This leads to a decrease of blood vessel resistance to blood flow thereby reducing the pressure. Since the frequency of the influencing magnetic frequency would be different than the patient's pulse rate, the coincidence of the two pulses should be frequent. In the result, the patient's blood pressure in decreased thereby providing a curative effect to the hypertension. Although increasing the magnetic pulse frequency would result in more frequent occurrences of such coincidences, it would also increases the patient pulse rate. For this reason, the use of higher frequencies is undesirable for curing hypertensive disease. Conversely, lowering the magnetic pulse frequency leads to a decrease in the curative effect because the desired coincidences would be rare occurrences.

Figure 4 illustrates an apparatus for verifying the effect of weak alternating magnetic fields on heart activity. The apparatus comprises a computer 40, a switch 50, a pulse former and emitter 60 of the trains of magnetic field impulses, and a transformer 80 of patients pulse to voltage impulses, which supplied to the computer 40.

Experiment

To verify a possible mechanism of influence of trains of magnetic field impulses to a human, the following experiment was undertaken (Figure 4). A computer 40 formed impulses at a frequency of 1.25 Hz while the patient's pulse was 1.3 Hz. The patient's pulse was transformed into voltage impulses with transformer 80. These impulses were supplied back to the computer 40 where the time difference between the computer impulse and nearest following patient pulse beat was recorded. Switch 50 was maintained off during this period so that pulse former 60 of the trains of magnetic field impulses could not influence the patient's pulse rate. A total of 6328 measurements were taken, resulting in a duration of the experiment of approximately 100 minutes. A histogram of probability distribution of time durations between computer impulses and patient's pulse is shown in Figure 5 with bars. In Figure 5, the horizontal axis represents the time difference (in 1/10,000 seconds) between the pulse generated by the computer 40 and the patient's pulse. The vertical axis represents the number of occurrences within a given time differential. Based on the theory, a uniform distribution should be observed; the results illustrated in Figure 5 indicate an approximately uniform distribution therefore supporting the theory.

Subsequently, switch 50 was turned on, thereby placing the patient under the influence of the trains of magnetic field impulses. In this instance, the computer 40 functioned as the pulse generator of the system (i.e. the computer comprised element 10 of Figure 1). The pulses were transmitted to the pulse former and emitter 60 which, in turn, created the required magnetic oscillations (i.e. element 60 of Figure 5 comprised element 20 of Figure 1). The impulses had the following parameters: a) the repetition period of the trains of magnetic field impulses - 800 milliseconds; b) the period of magnetic field oscillations - 330 nanoseconds; c) the amplitude of the first magnetic field impulse - 16 microTesla, d) the damping factor of the oscillations in the trains - 0.05; e) the distance between field emitter and patient's chest - 5 cm.

As mentioned above, the trains of the magnetic field impulses were formed simultaneously with impulses from the computer. Further, impulses corresponding to the patient's pulse were treated in the same manner as above and a histogram of their distribution is shown in Figure 5 with a solid line. It is observed in the second case that the distribution of the duration between computer impulses (which correspond to the magnetic field impulses) and the patient pulse rate is shifted to the left (i.e. the line is higher than the bars on the left side of the graph and lower than the bars on the right side). This indicates that the patient's heart activity became synchronised with the trains of magnetic field impulses. Therefore, the above experiment suggests that exposing a patient to an oscillating magnetic field as described may provide a means of correcting certain conditions.

Therefore, the present invention provides a method and device for curing hypertensive disease which: a) provides an effective, non-intrusive, treatment for hypertensive disease; b) reduces the duration of exposure to magnetic fields to a minimum; and c) exposes a patient to a frequency of trains of magnetic impulses which are favourable for treating hypertension.

Although the invention has been described the reference to certain specific embodiments various modifications thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as outlined in the claims appended hereto.

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A method for treating hypertensive disease wherein the patient is exposed to damped trains of magnetic oscillations with a period 20 - 1100 nanoseconds and an intensity from about 0.12 to about 18 microTesla and a decrement of damping of at least 0.05 wherein the improvement comprises exposing the patient to magnetic oscillations having a frequency ranging from 0.7 to 1.3 of the patient's average pulse rate during a day.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said frequency of magnetic oscillations is the mean pulse rate of a patient in calm and excited conditions.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said device should be worn within 12 cm from the patient's chest.

4. A device for treating hypertensive disease comprising a housing containing a pulse generator, a pulse former, and an emitter coil wherein an output from the pulse generator is connected to an input of the pulse former and an output from the pulse former drives the emitter coil, and wherein the pulse generator operates at a frequency ranging from 0.7 to 1.3 of the patient's average pulse rate during a day.

5. A device as claimed in claim 4 wherein a result of multiplication of the amplitude of said pulses with the cycled frequency of their oscillations is no less then 35 Tesla/sec.