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Magnetic Molecular Energizer (MME)

FACT SHEET

What is MME?

MME stands for Magnetic Molecular Energizer Therapy, a novel, non-invasive, negligible risk, research treatment modality that involves the application of a high energy (3,000-5,000 Gauss) negatively oriented magnetic field to a diseased or dysfunctional organ system or body region.  The MME device, in use in the US since 1997, consists of two large electromagnets and a DC power converter, with the patient positioned in the focal point between the two electromagnets. AMRI of NW Ohio is the 6th American MME facility, and is providing MME to its patients under the auspices of an Institutional Review Board (IRB).

How does MME work  - at the Molecular level?          

Your spouse or significant other may make the Earth move under your feet, and we can't do that, but with MME we can accelerate your electron spin.  The inventor of MME, Dr. Dean Bonlie, stayed awake during high school science, and as a research clinician, discovered a therapeutic solution to the Larmor formula.  Recall that the enzymes, DNA, and other structures within your cells are composed of molecules, which in turn are made up of atoms, which in turn are comprised of a dense nucleus, made up of protons and neutrons, about which electrons orbit in various layers, termed orbitals.  Molecular reactions are triggered when the valence electrons, the outer orbital electrons, of one atom collide with and then combine with the valence electrons of another atom.  Two Hydrogen atoms don't just stick to one Oxygen to produce H₂O; it is their valence electrons that collide and bind together.  The more rapidly the valence electrons orbit around the nucleus of an atom, the more likely they are to collide with and bind to valence electrons orbiting the nucleus of other atoms, the more likely is the given atom to participate in molecular reactions.  If the valence electrons of many atoms within a cell are spinning more rapidly, molecular, and then biochemical, reactions are more likely to occur within that cell.  Energy producing reactions will speed up, and the cell can use this energy to rebuild itself or to carry out biochemical work. 

Larmor formula:  w_L = e B / 2 m   

Now back to the Larmor formula.  You don't need to fully understand this equation, but do note that  w_L refers to the velocity of electron spin, something that we want to increase, and B refers to the magnetic field in which the electron exists.  During MME, B, the magnetic field in which the electron exists, is increased, leading to, in the valence electrons moving in the same direction as is the magnetic field, an exponential increase in their orbital velocity.  Some of these electrons will be bumped into a higher energy state.  This increase in velocity of some, but not all (those orbiting in the direction opposite to that of the magnetic field will not speed up) of the valence electrons leads to a phenomena called wobble, which also increases the energy available for chemical reactions.  Remember, electron transfer is the basis for all useful chemical reactions in the body, and electron transfer is increased during MME.

How does MME work  - at the Biological level?

Think of MME as an energy catalyst that speeds up useful chemical reactions in your body.  The energy in sunlight is used by plants to generate chemical energy.  The MME magnetic field spins your electrons and this electron spin is captured to generate chemical energy.  Biological functions within the body region or organ system that is within the MME focal point may speed up or be enhanced, such as oxygen carrying capacity, the exchange of nutrients for wastes and their correct assimilation, the manufacture and function of enzymes, tissue regeneration, and most importantly, healing.  The rate of healing can be accelerated beyond that typical of the human body.  For example, a bone fracture that typically requires 6-8 weeks to heal may require only a few days with MME treatment (giving my kids' sports teams an incredible and totally unfair advantage over their competition).  Neurons in tissue culture sprout more rapidly under the influence of a negative magnetic field; it is felt that MME increases the division rate of our in-place, organ-specific, stem cells.

Suitable Candidates for MME

Our IRB permits us to treat individuals with Neurological, Orthopedic, and Cardiovascular disease states, as well as to address liver dysfunction and pain in any location.  AMRI of NW Ohio is located within a Cardiology practice, Comprehensive Heart Care, as a sister therapy to EECP, which we have relied on over the past 7 years to treat over 700 patients with recurrent, inoperable, or treatment refractory coronary disease.  Our focus at AMRI of NW Ohio will be to research the use of MME in advanced heart disease.  We will not just treat you with MME; rather we will treat you with MME placed on a foundation of nutritional, and as needed, pharmacologic measures.  Dr. Roberts has been practicing Cardiology for 18 years, and his knowledge and experience will be applied to your condition.  We are interested in, and basically insist on, taking a comprehensive approach - this is the pathway to good treatment outcomes in any area of medicine.  If you have a non-Cardiovascular condition that is likely to respond to MME, especially if you live in our area, we can and will treat you to the best of our ability.  Here we will need the records of the other physicians who have examined you, and we may ask your permission to obtain input from other practitioners or other MME providers (why not draw on the experience of others).  If you are from out of town and your primary problem is Orthopedic, Neurological, or Gastrointestinal, you might want to consider receiving MME at a center staffed by practitioners of those disciplines.  We do not claim expertise in non-Cardiovascular disease, but if you want us to try to help you we will do our best.

Conditions Treatable with MME

Conditions that have been treated successfully with MME are outlined below; in blue are the conditions that we at AMRI of NW Ohio have treated with MME.  Remember, we consider MME to be a research therapy - just because we have successfully treated one or more patients with a given problem doesn't mean that you will necessarily respond in the same manner.  Conditions related to those listed below may also respond.

Description of the MME Procedure

During treatment, you recline on a padded table, with the body region of interest within the focal point between the magnets.  You may read, sleep, converse with others, or watch TV or DVDs (we are equipped with cable so you can watch the Detroit Pistons win the Central Division) during MME.  Some patients may feel a warmth or tingle over the region being treated.  Most patients feel nothing and MME is not associated with any treatment related discomfort.

Duration of Treatment

If balloon angioplasty is a sprint, think of MME as a marathon.  It takes time for MME accelerated electron spin to evolve into tissue healing or a resolution of angina, and as you are going to pay for this treatment out-of-pocket, we're probably going to be treating you for a condition that cannot be treated, or treated safely, by other means.  To date, our angina patients have required 100-150 hours; patients with advanced heart failure or cardiomyopathy will more likely require 150-250 hours.  Spinal cord injury patients will be looking at 300-600 hours.  MME is a huge time and resource commitment on your part, and we want you to consider this commitment carefully - MME does not provide a quick fix to complicated problem.  Please click Treatment Hours to view a chart that gives the average number of MME hours utilized in the commonly treated conditions.

Benefits to the Patient and to our Society

MME is helping individuals with health problems "too far gone" for standard methods, people who are "stuck".  MME may also resolve many  health care issues that might otherwise mandate an invasive approach, one associated with greater risk and cost.  Everyone benefits from better health care outcomes that cost less.  At AMRI of NW Ohio we are participating in research as to the efficacy of MME, with a particular focus on the efficacy of MME in Cardiovascular disease.  We intend to participate, along with the other MME facilities, in the blinded research studies that will hopefully pave the way for full FDA approval of MME, and thus more widespread access to this technique.

Risks to the patient

This may be the best feature of MME - even though the disease states that we treat may be advanced, the risks associated with MME are negligible.   MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), a non-invasive imaging procedure, involves the application of a much stronger magnetic field, and has an excellent safety record.  Having said that MME is safe, we also have to say that MME would be unsafe in individuals who bear implanted devices with moving electrical parts (pacemaker, defibrillator, or cochlear ear implant).  Other physician implanted metals are by law non-magnetic, and do not pose a safety risk (metal staples, vascular stents, artificial joints).  Non-medical metal bodies could be magnetic, and thus "pulled on" by the MME-induced magnetic field (shrapnel near a vital organ or foreign body in the eye).  If concern exists, a plain X-ray can be done to clear you for MME.  The real risk to the patient undergoing MME is the potential to spend a good deal of time and money on MME and then not get the desired result.  Remember, as we do, that MME is an experimental therapy, and at this point no one can guarantee you a good result (just as I cannot guarantee that you could not have a complication from a heart catheterization, or that a specific drug will work, or that all you bypass grafts will stay open following bypass surgery, etc.). 

Regulatory Status

MME is not FDA approved.  This does not mean that MME is unsafe.  It means that we have not proven to the FDA that MME is an effective technique.  MME is being provided in the US under the auspices of an Institutional Review Board (IRB).  The IRB monitors the safety of MME as it is applied in the US.  If one of our patients experiences an unexpected adverse outcome or anything that remotely looks like a complication of MME, it is our responsibility to report this to the IRB.  As more MME outcome data is collected, especially outcomes of the randomized, multicenter, sham-MME controlled, double-blind studies of MME that we have planned, then application will be made for FDA approval.  Until then, this MME facility, your insurer, and you, the patient, must consider MME as an experimental treatment modality.

Research Studies

AMRI of NW Ohio is participating in two randomized, sham-MME controlled studies of the effectiveness of MME in painful diabetic neuropathy and chronic low back pain.  Subjects will receive 120 hours (neuropathy study) or 140 hours (low back pain) of real or sham-MME.  At six months the code will be broken and subjects initially assigned to sham-therapy will receive real MME.  Thus all subjects will receive real MME and we will compensate you for your time (in other words - we pay you). 

Costs to the Patient

MME has the potential to help individuals with serious problems that cannot be addressed, or addressed safely, with our prior best methods.  That is why we brought MME into our practice, and that is why, to many individuals, the benefits of MME are priceless.  Still, you have to pay for it, and you have to pay for it yourself.  The cost of MME is $50 per hour.  However, if you elect to receive 300 hours, the cost will be the same as if you receive 200 hours (we want good results and we want to be reasonable so that is our policy).  Out-of-town patients might prefer the "rent the room" approach.  If you are going to receive at least 12 hours of treatment per day, the room will be yours while you are undergoing MME.  In other words, you can stay with us, avoiding the additional cost of a hotel.  If you receive more than 12 hours within a 24 hour period, each additional hour will be charged at the $50/hour rate.  Ancillary treatments (Asyra, LED, Magna Charge, Activated Air, & Ionator Foot Bath) are available to any MME patient at 1/2 of their usual cost during the course of the MME therapy.  EECP, our other unique therapy for inoperable heart disease, is FDA approved, and is covered by Medicare and nearly all insurers.  MME is not FDA approved and is an experimental therapy.  As such, it is not the policy of Medicare, or of any other insurer that we are aware of, to cover the cost of MME.  We will not bill your insurer.  You can turn in your bill from MME to your insurer, but no matter your outcome, please understand that it is unlikely that they will reimburse you.  Our financial policy is discussed in more detail on a separate page (in Frequently Asked Questions section).

AMRI of NW Ohio provides MME treatment under the guidelines of an Investigational Review Board, consistent with FDA regulations.

 Please note that MME treatment is considered to be experimental by the FDA. Although many patients have improved, no guarantee of success is implied.