Weak electromagnetic fields improve body image perception in patients with multiple sclerosis

Neuropsychological studies have demonstrated that multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with various cognitive deficits and it has been suggested that it be considered a form of subcortical dementia. It is now recognized that visuoperceptive and visuomotor deficits commonly occur in MS patients particularly in those with chronic progressive course of the disease. The Human Figure Drawing Test has been employed in the assessment of generalized intellectual deterioration and specifically in the evaluation of visuoperceptive, visuospatial and visuoconstructional abilities in brain injured patients. I have demonstrated recently, on the basis of various drawing test, the external application of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) in the picotesla (pT) range intensity improved visuoperceptive and visuospatial functions in patients with MS. In the present communication I present five MS patients who were administered the Human Figure Drawing Test before and after a series of treatments with EMFs. Prior to application of EMFs four of these patients' drawings showed distortions, poor perspectives, impoverished facial expression, and lack of attention to details suggesting poor body image perception related to right posterior hemispheric dysfunction. In response to the administration of EMFs the group demonstrated improvement in motor disability which was associated with a striking improvement in the drawing particularly the drawings of the face the perception of which is localized to the right parietal lobe. These findings demonstrate that treatment with pT EMFs improves body image perception in MS patients thus corroborating previous observations which demonstrated this treatment modality to exert beneficial effects on cognitive functions in patients with MS.