Scientific Research

Scientific Research

One of my primary missions is to research and share my findings and enable others to educate themselves and discover answers to their unique health-related questions through wellness.”
– Dr. Jerry Tennant”

Clinical Studies: Videos

Daily Home Electrical Stimulation as an Adjunctive Therapy to Accelerate Wound Healing

– Authored by Brian D. Lepow, DPM; and Alejandro Zulbaran, MD

Brian D. Lepow, DPM and Alejandro Zulbaran, MD present their study, “Effectiveness of Daily Home

Electrical Stimulation as an Adjunctive Therapy to Accelerate Wound Healing in People with Diabetic Foot Ulcer – a Double-blinded Randomized Controlled Trail,” at SAWC Virtual 2020. This study was awarded 1st place in the Oral Abstract category. In addition to Drs. Lepow and Zulbaran, fellow coauthors of this study include Hector Elizondo, MD; Akashdeep Singh, DPM; Jeffry Ross, DPM; and Bijan Najafi, PhD.

Clinical Research Papers

Promotion of Wound Healing in Diabetic Foot Ulceration with the Tennant Biomodulator and Tennant BioTransducer
– Researched by Lilia Feria NMD, Anthony Pinazza NMD & Joe TiIchen’s NMD

“Diabetic foot ulceration is major source of morbidity with an estimated prevalence of 9- 25% among the estimated 30.3 million people with diabetes in the United States (1-4). Approximately 5.0 per 1,000 people with diabetes will undergo limb amputation annually (5). As ulceration significantly amplifies risk of amputation, improvements to limb salvage efforts are needed.

Current best practices in the management diabetic foot wounds involve three major elements: regular monitoring, wound cleaning and dressing, and mechanical off-loading (6-7). These strategies focus on mitigation of factors that may inhibit wound healing. Estimated rates of wound healing are 1-2% per day with standard methods (8). While glucose control is standard in management of diabetes, significant evidence has not been found to correlate glucose control and wound healing (9). A large number of treatments undergoing evaluation focus on reducing risk of infection while waiting for wound closure but do not yield enhanced rates of closure. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has shown some evidence of improving healing rates, but quality of data does not yet support generalized recommendations for this treatment (10). Other approaches to biochemically enhance biological processes at work in the wound have not provided evidence of improved rates of healing. Physical therapies such as microcurrent and pEMF have shown positive but limited evidence in small studies of improving rates of healing (11-12). ”

Effectiveness of Daily Home Electrical Stimulation As An Adjunctive Therapy to Accelerate Wound Healing In People With Diabetic Foot Ulcer 

– A Double-Blinded Randomized control trial – 

By: Alejandro Zulbaran, Naima Rodriguez, Hector Elizondo, Anmol Momin, Jeffrey Ross, 

Miguel Montero-Baker, Brian Lepow, Joseph L. Mills, Bijan Najafi 

Division of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy, 

Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery

Diabetic foot Ulcers (DFUs) create a high expenditure for healthcare systems and could lead to limb loss. Electrical Stimulation (E-stim) is an alternative treatment option to speed up wound healing. The study’s aim is to evaluate whether home-based daily E-stim therapy can speed up wound healing. The hypothesis is that daily E-stim therapy would improve tissue oxygenation of DFUs, therefore accelerating the healing process.

The first RCT study examined feasibility and effectiveness of home-based E-stim therapy to improve wound healing. With over 90% self-adherence, the study suggests high perceived ease of use and benefit to wound healing among people with DFU’s. Our results revealed positive contribution of E-stim to improve tissue oxygen saturation, a key ingredient for wound healing.

Effectiveness of Lower Extremity Electrical Stimulation to Improve Skin Perfusion

Alejandro Zulbaran, Brian Lepow, Catherine Park, Bijan Najafi Division of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy, Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery

Accelerate wound healing and increase perfusion potential

– Geoffrey C. Gurtner, MD, FACS (Stanford University), Lawrence Lavery, DPM,MPH, Brian D. Lepow, DPM

“Three US. medical centers are currently collaborating to evaluate the bio-electric neuromodulation device (FDA- cleared for pain relief) and asses its potential to increase perfusion in chronic wounds.”

Treatment of Idiopathic Late Onset Cerebellar Ataxia A Case Study

– Tony Pinazza NMD, Jeffrey Langland PhD, Lilia Feria NMD, Joseph Tilchen

“This case represents the successful treatment of late onset cerebellar ataxia with Biomodulator therapy.  This treatment demonstrated the ability to improve muscle strength, coordination and ADL’s better than conventional treatment standards. ”

X-Rays Show Structural Changes After Biomodulator Microcurrent Treatment
– Dr Jarrah Ali Al-Tubaikh, MD

“Since learning of the BioModulator® microcurrent device for drug-free, non-invasive pain relief, Dr. Al-Tubaikh has used it with patients and co-workers at his hospital as well as with friends, all of whom suffer from severe unresolved pain symptoms. In two cases, he used the BioModulator® with patients specifically referred to him because of severe back pain, as word of the “miracle” treatment spread. In each case, Dr. Tubaikh said he takes images before and after treatment to document changes that have taken place after BioModulator® treatment. “It is hard to argue against radiological images because the evidence is clear; it is not placebo anymore.”

MRI Improvement in Necrotic Knee after use of BioModulator®
Jarrah Ali Al-Tubaikh, MD

 

“A 71-year-old diabetic, hepatitis-C positive patient presented with a history of right knee osteoarthritis resulting from a fracture that had occurred approximately 20 years ago. On October 24, 2014, the patient limped into the radiology department. The initial MRI images showed severe osteoarthritis, complete cartilage loss in the medial femoral condyle (the lower end of the thigh bone at the knee), osteoarthritic changes, and marked edema (swelling) in the medial femoral condyle, suspiciously like Ahlback’s disease. Ahlback’s disease is the result of vascular arterial insufficiency to the medial femoral condyle of the knee resulting in necrosis (death) and destruction of bone.1 Traditional treatments for Ahlback’s disease are bisphosphonates, a group of drugs that are used in the treatment of osteoporosis and bone malignancies, and/or surgery. Additionally, chronic infections with hepatitis C virus add to age-dependent bone loss and may contribute to lower bone strength in the elderly.

After discussing therapeutic options with the patient, which, in this case, were restricted due to advanced age and deteriorated health, the option of pulsed electromagnetic frequency therapy using Tennant’s Biomodulator with the biotransducer attachment was suggested. Beginning on November 3, 2014, the patient was treated daily for 30 to 45 minutes for one month. During the period of therapy, the patient reported reduction in pain and swelling of the knee and improved ability to walk normally. An MRI scan was repeated in December 2, 2014, to document any differences in the MRI image.

The MRI images showed almost 90% resolution of the medial femoral condyle edema and the normal bone marrow signal returned to almost 90% normal. The lack of significant changes in the tibia is simply because the position of the biotransducer probe was concentrated for the treatment period over the medial femoral condyle region, mainly, the focus of pain”

Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation for Chronic Postherpetic Neuralgia
– Malcolm R. Ing, MD

“Treatment of postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) remains a challenging problem for clinicians. Herpes zoster is a relatively common disease with an incidence of 5 per 1000 patients per year. Involvement of the ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve occurs in about 20% of cases. The typical clinical presentation of ophthalmic zoster is blisters and inflammation of the skin supplied by the first division of the trigeminal nerve. If the pain and inflammation remains in the skin after one month with persisting neuropathic pain, it is termed chronic PHN.

The risk of developing PHN is highest with increasing age and presents a major public health issue. Many treatment modalities have been considered with limited success.  Side effects from medical treatment include nausea, sedation, postural hypotension, dizziness, and somnolence. Constipation and sedation from opioids make these drugs poorly tolerated in the elderly.

Biofeedback is a well accepted therapeutic treatment option. Electronic devices are often utilized in biofeedback therapy. Modern modification of these self-controlled electronic neuroadaptive regulation (SCENAR) devices, such as the Tennant BioModulator® (TBM), have been granted a Food and Drug Administration class II designation to help with CPN.

97% of Terminal Cancer Patients Previously Had This Dental Procedure…….
– Joseph Mercola, MD

 

“Do you have a chronic degenerative disease? If so, have you been told, “It’s all in your head?” Well, that might not be that far from the truth…The root cause of your illness may be in your mouth. There is a common dental procedure that nearly every dentist will tell you is completely safe, despite the fact that scientists have been warning of its dangers for more than 100 years.
Every day in the United States alone, 41,000 of these dental procedures are performed on patients who believe they are safely and permanently fixing their problem.

What is this dental procedure? The root canal. More than 25 million root canals are performed every year in this country.
Root-canaled teeth are essentially “dead” teeth that can become silent incubators for highly toxic anaerobic bacteria that can, under certain conditions, make their way into your bloodstream to cause a number of serious medical conditions—many not appearing until decades later.

Most of these toxic teeth feel and look fine for many years, which make their role in systemic disease even harder to trace back.
Sadly, the vast majority of dentists are oblivious to the serious potential health risks they are exposing their patients to, risks that persist for the rest of their patients’ lives. The American Dental Association claims root canals have been proven safe, but they have NO published data or actual research to substantiate this claim.”

Oral and Systemic Health
-Jerry Tennant MD and Stephen R. Evans DDS

 

“This is a concept paper describing the relationship between a doctor and a dentist working together to help their patients achieve their potential for health. Many patients are not aware of the relationship of oral care to whole body care. Many may be anxious about seeing a dentist for several reasons and when Dr. Tennant discovers dental issues during his examination of a patient and encourages that they address potential dental infections, the anxiety level increases.

Often patients put off seeing a dentist until they are motivated by tooth or jaw pain or serious medical diagnosis they believe is related to their oral health. Even if they are motivated to improve function or appearance they may not be completely aware of the extent of their dental condition and require initial consultation with a dentist that has the same integrity, experience, skills and commitment to oral and systemic health. There are a number of dentists listed with various holistic and biological related dental organizations and research that validates why patients must take an active role in taking responsibility for their own health. When medical practitioners work hard to help their patients, they want to see their patients achieve their goals for wellness.”

“In this study we used a BioModulator technology* which generates microcurrent, electrical impulses that are transmitted by electrodes in the device through the skin to interface with the body’s internal peripheral nervous system for various therapeutic intervention. This technology is FDA approved for pain management. This research was focused on evaluation of the BioModulator and determine if synergistically enhances efficacy of antibiotics for treating wound infections. We studied the synergistic effect of the BioModulator and antibiotics by employing various testing parameters.”

“Due to the emergence of antibiotic and multi-drug resistant pathogens, there is a growing need for development of novel and effective antimicrobial therapeutics and devices. Infections have become the greatest threat to the life and recovery of the combat casualty who survives the immediate trauma of the insult. The Tennant BioModulators® generates microcurrent, electrical impulses that are transmitted by electrodes in the device through the skin to interface with the body’s internal peripheral nervous system for various therapeutic intervention. This technology is FDA approved for pain management. Our Study was focused on further evaluation of the handheld Tennant BioModulators® as an antimicrobial therapeutic device.”

“SCNM residents are advancing the frontiers of medicine by turning scientific insights into treatments that improve patients’ lives.”