Alzheimer's Disease & Magnetic Fields

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1: Int J Neurosci. 1994 Jun;76(3-4):185-225. Related Articles,

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Alzheimer's disease: improvement of visual memory and

visuoconstructive performance by treatment with picotesla range

magnetic fields.

Sandyk R.

NeuroCommunication Research Laboratories, Danbury, CT 06811.

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.

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PMID: 7960477 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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