medical applications: Microwave News Article Archive (2004 - )

“Pilot Study on the Therapeutic Potential of RF Magnetic Fields: Growth Inhibition of Implanted Tumors,” British Journal of Cancer, September 2020.

“Although the limited number of animals used in the experiments restricts definite conclusions, the results of this pilot study indicate consistently that a 2 µT 10 MHz RF inhibits tumor growth in mouse models.” … “[T]there is no clear understanding on the mechanism behind the observed effect.”

“Brain Cancer Patients Survive Longer By Sending Electric Field Through Their Heads,” IEEE Spectrum, November 22, 2016.

Novocure’s 200 kHz signals kept 43% of GBM patients alive compared to 30% on the standard treatment.

“A Case of Musical Preference for Johnny Cash Following Deep Brain Stimulation of the Nucleus Accumbens,” Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, posted onlne May 9, 2014.

Open access. Some months after stimulation, the subject, who had OCD, was listening to the radio, when he coincidentally heard “Ring of Fire” and was deeply affected by the song.  See also this write-up in the U.K. Independent.

“Different EMF Waveforms Have Different Effects on Proliferation, Differentiation and Mineralization of Osteoblasts in Vitro,” Bioelectromag-netics, posted online June 17, 2013.

“[S]inusoidal EMFs inhibit osteoblast proliferation while square EMFs promote osteoblast proliferation. While the square and serrated EMFs have no appreciable effects on osteogenesis, triangular and sinusoidal EMFs enhance the osteogenic differentiation and mineralization of osteoblasts, with triangular EMFs being the most potent waveform.” Based on 50 Hz exposures at 1.8 mT (18 G) —from Lanzhou, China.

"EMOST: Report About the Application of Low-Frequency and Intensity [EMFs] in Disaster Situation and Commando Training,"

Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine, online June 7, 2012.

It’s become axiomatic that wide acceptance of non-thermal effects will come from developing biomedical therapies rather than from studying potential hazards. The health effects work is mostly sponsored by those who don't want to find any. And they usually don't (cf: the USAF, EPRI, CTIA, FGF, MMF, etc.) So no one should be surprised that the latest advance comes from a small high-tech Israeli company, Novocure, which is looking for innovative ways to treat cancer. It's a breakthrough —most likely a major breakthrough.

Novocure uses weak 100-200 kHz electric fields —the company calls them tumor treating fields or TTFields— to stunt the growth of cancer cells, either by slowing down their proliferation or by killing them off entirely. The company has now demonstrated this in four different cancer cell lines. Even more impressive is that tumor growth has been curtailed in mice, rats and, in a small pilot project, ten human patients with recurrent brain tumors (glioblastoma).