Microcirculation - IMIN Conference
- Sunil Pai, MD
- Oct 13, 2016
- 6 min read
I recently had the honor to be invited to be one of the few MD’s in the U.S. to present at the inaugural International Microcirculation Network (IMIN) conference in Orlando, Florida on Sept 24th in front of 1,350 attendees. It was quite amazing! I shared the stage with the world famous researcher and expert in microcirculation Dr. Klopp from Germany who runs the Institute of Microcirculation.
Simply put there are 2 types of circulation. First there is the Macrocirculation, which is 14% of our circulation that contains the large arteries and veins. This is where we spend most of time focusing on in Western Medicine because this is large vessels that we can inject, poke, remove, bypass (from cardiology and vascular surgeons) and it is where prescription medications can have physiological effects (for example with blood pressure medications). The second is called Microcirculation, which is where 76% of your circulation takes place. This is the smaller vessels such as the arterioles, venules and capillaries. Unfortunately, since we don’t have a surgical procedures or prescription drugs for improvement or assistance to these areas, in our conventional medical training this entire area of 76% of the microcirculation is not taught to us! In fact, I did not know we even had anything that could affect the microcirculation until about 2 year ago! This is where the Europeans have been way ahead of us with understanding not only anatomy and physiology of the body but physics and now more importantly we are entering the age of Energy Medicine using frequencies, signals and other applications that can improve our health without drugs or surgery!
At the conference they provided data that is so fascinating, even for those people who aren’t doctors, it is still amazing to learn about. For example we learned that within the capillaries, which are smaller than the size of a red blood cell, the cells have to squeeze into these capillaries and that is where the exchange of oxygen and nutrients take place (they have advanced technology that they can show in real time video of the microcirculation). The blood flow in these tiny vessels is even more complex than we thought. The parts of the blood within these vessels actually travel differently and are not uniform in nature. For example think of a tube of water flowing in your hose. We think that all the water just flows from one side to the other uniformly but in the microcirculation there is differences in speeds and areas of flow within the blood. For example the plasma travels on surface of the vessels (think edges around a donut) at a certain speed and the red blood cells travels in the center (think of the donut hole) at another speed within the same overall blood flow. How fascinating is that!
Simply put, it is through the microcirculation that the exchange of oxygen and nutrients are delivered and waste products are removed. In a healthy normal person they have about 30-50 vasomotions (natural pulsations to help the movement) in 10 minutes but in any chronic disease such as diabetes, those vasomotions can go down to 1 every 10 minutes. This bring a great understanding to certain diseases like Peripheral Neuropathy which people have pain and numbness in their hands and feet that occur in people with diabetes or side effects from chemotherapy can experience. When the blood sugar gets too high, the glucose molecules create a sharp surface area on the red blood cell (which is normally smooth) and when it squeezes through these tiny capillaries it increases the “shearing effect” or causes small tears which leads to damage to these vessels causing pain, decrease flow, inflammation and a viscous cycle of chronic injury and degeneration.
Along with Dr. Klopp, other physicians and researchers such as Dr. Durfus, Dr. Baltazar, Dr. Wyle and Dr. Tussig also presented. They spoke about the use of a patented PEMF waveform device (that we use in our office and offer our patients for home use as well) that extensive research has been done and is currently being conducted on the multiple health benefits including improving vasomotion of the microcirculation, improving immune response, improving wound healing, increasing oxygenation of tissue up to 29% for 24 hours and increasing ATP production by 18%, improving the nutrient supply and waste disposal, enhancing cardiac function, improving physical fitness, endurance, strength and energy level as well as many other benefits.
I learned some very new important aspects of microcirculation that has never been taught to us in the U.S. The Department of Defense is conducting studies on how to improve the microcirculation in trauma patients and the role in their recovery. For example when a patient (or in this case a member of the military) gets injured and they go into septic shock or have acute hemorrhage, the tiny hairs in the glycocalyx, which is in the inner part of the capillaries that control exchange of the nutrients and oxygen are damaged. The standard of care is that is provided when someone has low blood pressure, high heart rate and loss of blood is to give normal saline or similar solutions to fill their overall volume of fluids. However, when we do so, although we see the person’s blood pressure and heart rate improve and overall physiological parameters gets better, the person unfortunately dies. We never did really know why in light of all the levels being brought back to normal, they never recovered. We just would say that the septic shock was too severe or the infection was not controlled in time. But through this advanced research, what they found out is that when the glycocalyx of the capillaries is damaged, the IV fluids that are given are not being utilized on a cellular level. This means the oxygen and nutrients (even medications) are not being transported correctly so the person does not get the physiological benefits to heal and recover, even though the overall blood volume numbers look good on the monitors. What they found out is that fresh frozen plasma is the ONLY fluid that restores the glycocalyx to regenerate those tiny hairs to help improve the oxygen and nutrient exchange. Therefore this explains why when we give normal saline fluids in the ER to someone who is very anemic with symptoms and we bring up their blood volume and discharge them home, although they are stable to send home, they never really feel good since the extra fluids although helpful in a overall standpoint to “fill their tank”, they are not able to utilize that fuel efficiently. This is a major turning point in the understanding of how we can save thousands of patients from a simple but important aspect of microcirculation that we have not understood until now.
Recently this technology is being used in partnership with NASA by implanting this patented waveform into the spacesuits of astronauts to help prevent bone loss and atrophy when they are in space without gravity. Therefore you don’t have to go to space to get these benefits. Data was presented that improvement in bone density can occur up to 5 fold by increasing the microcirculation without taking osteoporosis medications!
Other data that was presented was on the role of the microcirculation in cardiovascular health in improving collateral and muscle tissue functioning. Even improvement in vision health with macular degeneration and other retinal disorders where shown to improve with this non-invasive technology.
Of course, I spoke about the utmost important role of inflammation and how to reduce inflammation through diet and natural therapies. I specifically presented data on Peripheral Neuropathy and briefly covered the clinical recommendations of using a patented PEMF waveform device that offers improved healing response along with other clinically tested protocols that are provided in the upcoming 4th Edition medical textbook Integrative Medicine (Rakel) published by Elsevier. By following the protocols presented most people with Peripheral Neuropathy can reduce their pain, improve their sensory function and improve their overall quality of life, which is safer and more effective than the prescription medications that are currently being provided. Further details are described in my book An Inflammation Nation for those who are interested.
For those who want to learn more about the above topics and how a simple non-invasive technology can help them, please contact us for more information.
Kommentare