Justin Bullock, FISM News
Doctors have developed a new way to treat cancerous brain tumors through the use of magnets mounted on a helmet. Researchers at Houston Methodist Neurological Institute tested a magnetic helmet on a patient who had a glioblastoma tumor in his brain. They found that they were able to shrink the tumor by over 30% and had hoped for even greater results, but their patient died due to an unrelated injury.
Typically glioblastoma tumors are incredibly difficult to treat and nearly always result in death. An aggressive and dangerous barrage of radio and chemo therapy is the usual means of treatment directed at a patient’s brain. With this magnetic helmet treatment has become much more effective and safe. The lead researcher, Dr. David S. Baskins, said about the technology,
Thanks to the courage of this patient and his family, we were able to test and verify the potential effectiveness of the first noninvasive therapy for glioblastoma in the world… The family’s generous agreement to allow an autopsy after their loved ones’ untimely death made an invaluable contribution to the further study and development of this potentially powerful therapy.
The doctors published the results of their study in the academic journal Frontiers. In it they describe the prototype as a typical helmet mounted with three strong, rotating permanent magnets that generate an oscillating magnetic field. They had successfully tried an identical treatment on mice with glioblastoma tumors before using it on their first patient.
According to the doctors, the magnets and magnetic field inhibit the growth of cancerous cells. More precisely, the magnets and magnetic field produced by the helmet,
disrupts electron transport in the series of reactions mitochondria use to produce the chemical energy that powers our cells. However, this disruption only occurs in the presence of certain metabolism-enhancing compounds produced by tumor cells, which means the disrupted glioblastoma cells die off while healthy cells remain intact.
This technology is a wonderful discovery and will hopefully prove to be a great blessing in the fight against cancer.