HBOT Conversations:
Dr. Hemal Mehta & Vibrant Health University
Dr. Hemal Mehta, MD is a Medical Director and an Independent Medical Examiner who focuses on pain management through a Regenerative medicine approach. Dr. Mehta is Board Certified in Physical Medicine and Pain Management. He received his Doctor of Medicine Degree from Ross University School of Medicine and completed his residency at East Carolina. He is the Medical Director of Vibrant Health of North Carolina, Tennessee Integrative Pain Institute, and TN Integrative Healthcare: Musculoskeletal and Regenerative Center; additionally, Dr. Mehta is the attending physician at Nashville Regenerative Orthopedics. Dr. Mehta is the 2013 recipient of the Inaugural Patient Appreciation Award at Nashville Academy of Medicine, and the 2004 Research Resident of the Year for East Carolina University. Dr. Mehta has extensive experience with stem cell proliferation, and angiogenesis. He has incorporated Ozone Injection Therapy, PRP (Platelet-Rich Plasma) Injections, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and Regenerative Matrix and Regenerative Medicine Procedures – to name a few – into his integrative wellness & longevity medical practices.
Watch the Podcast
HBOT News Network welcomes back Dr. Hemal V. Mehta, M.D.; Medical Director of Vibrant Health of North Carolina. Dr. Mehta has joined HBOT News Network three times previously, where we focused heavily on the topics of fasting & regenerative medicine – see Dr. Mehta & Fasting, Dr. Mehta & Fasting (Part 2), and Dr. Mehta & Regenerative Medicine.
We are thrilled to have Dr. Mehta return to discuss Vibrant Health University. Vibrant Health University is a new start-up educational program through Vibrant Health. It is a way to help educate, not just the public, but also providers who are interested in performing regenerative therapies, regenerative injections, and providing an alternative to patients that’s not typically available.
Vibrant Health University wants to steer the medical field and general public away from the traditional heavy focus of pharmacology and surgical techniques; and educate people more on the integrative approaches available for regenerative therapies and regenerative treatments. What people can expect from Vibrant Health University (once it gets up and going), is a variety of online programs and podcasts they can watch. Then, if interested further, physicians can choose the option for an in-person educational program where Dr. Mehta or his team can visit the physician’s office (or the physician can visit them) and the physician can then witness live demonstrations, and learn how to do proper procedures for regenerative treatments, while incorporating their protocols into their treatment plans.
The courses at Vibrant Health University will be a structured program with a certification process. Dr. Mehta explains that they are planning to provide different tiers. For example, a lower tier, a medium tier, and a higher tier of education to providers based on their level of expertise, and based on how much knowledge they already have and how much they want to obtain. The ultimate goal of the program is to have the courses accredited by the appropriate certifying boards to count as continuing medical education for physicians.
Dr. Mehta & di Giralomo spend time discussing the importance of physician education, the continued benefits of fasting, and how to gain control of excessive inflammation.
Dr. Mehta remind us of Vibrant Health’s focus — to integrate traditional and non-traditional medicine to give each patient the best outlook and care. Ultimately, integrative medicine is integrating functional medicine and holistic therapies with what we’ve learned through history regarding how the human body works. God gave us everything we need to survive from the beginning of human life. Dr. Mehta ends this segment by explaining through the study of medicine, it’s incredibly difficult to not believe that there is a God or a higher power that has created this body. The human body is made to be able to tolerate all kinds of different injuries, in all kinds of different aspects of life, while adapting to the environment. There is absolutely no other machine that man has ever made that’s even similar to the divine healing capabilities of the human body.
If you’d like to know more about Vibrant Health University, please contact Vibrant Health at www.vibranthcs.com/contact/
Guest
Dr. Hemal Mehta
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Recent HBOT News
Clinical Trial – HBOT Late Radiation Tissue Injury
Background: Radiotherapy is a common treatment for many malignancies. Radiation-related
complications developing months or years after radiation treatment are known as late
radiation tissue injury (LRTI) and are estimated to effect 5%-15% of all long-term survivors
who have received radiation.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is a well established treatment of LRTI. Most of the studies
evaluating effect of HBOT on LRTI are focused on survival, resolution of tissue damage and
improvement in LENT-SOMA scale. Very few studies have addressed effect of HBOT on pain in
LTRI. Krahn and colleagues were the first to report the analgesic effect of HBOT in 3 cases
of refractory pain in oncological patients with radiation soft tissue injury. Other studies
showed significant improvement in pain intensity in patients with breast cancer and pelvic
malignancies treated with HBOT for LTRI. In patients that had developed radiation- induced
brachial plexopathy, HBOT elicited an increase in warm pain thresholds and a reduction in
lymphoedema. A prospective case study of 16 patients with gynecological cancer found no
changes with respect to pain and depression outcomes. A trial in patients with radiation
induced proctopathy showed that 75% of patients with rectal pain had some improvement,
although none experienced a complete resolution of pain symptoms.
There are several mechanisms by which HBOT may elicit analgesic effects. There is a growing
body of evidence that HBOT’s analgesic effect related to nitric oxide metabolism and
endogenous opioid secretion. Furthermore, the inhibition of tumor necrosis factor alph
(TNF-α), the production of substance P, and the modulation of serotonergic pathways have all
demonstrated a modification in the pain response following HBOT. In animal studies HBOT
decreased allodynia and hyperalgesia in different models of neuropathic and inflammatory
pain. The long lasting antinociceptive effect of HBOT was found to be dose-dependent in
non-injured tissues.
In human studies, HBOT decreased pain and edema and improved function in patients suffering
from the complex regional pain syndrome, and improved pain scores and range of motion in
patients with idiopathic femoral head necrosis. Women suffering from interstitial cystitis
demonstrated a reduction in pelvic pain following weeks and months of HBOT treatment. In
patients suffering from idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia HBOT produced a rapid reduction in
symptoms and these effects were lasting for 6 months following treatment. HBOT was also found
to be an effective treatment for cluster headaches and migraines and alleviated muscle and
bone pains in patients with myofascial syndrome, fibromyalgia, and biphosphonate-related
osteonecrosis of the jaw.
Based on the evidence presented above and HBOT’s known analgesic effect in many conditions,
the investigators designed this study with the objective to evaluate if HBOT reduces pain,
improves depression and impacts on patients quality of life in patients suffering from late
radiation tissue injury.
Study Design: Prospective observational study (n=300). Patients that have had radiation
therapy for malignancy, developed late radiation injury and suffer from chronic pain.
Clinical Trial – HBOT in Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic pain condition affecting several millions of Canadians.
Although the etiology and pathophysiology are poorly understood, there is a well-recognized
association between muscular pain in fibromyalgia and muscular hypoperfusion, hypoxia,
abnormal muscle metabolism and oxidative stress. Currently there is no cure for FM.
Pharmacological and non-pharmacological strategies are directed to control symptoms such as
pain, fatigue, non-restorative sleep and depression.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is an intermittent inhalation of 100% oxygen in a hyperbaric
chamber at a pressure higher than 1 absolute atmosphere. Physiological effect of HBOT is
based on a dramatic increase in the amount of dissolved oxygen carried by the blood which
enables oxygenation of ischemic areas with compromised circulation. It also activates
oxidant-antioxidant system, stimulates angio- and neurogenesis, modulates inflammatory
response, induces brain neuroplasticity and possesses analgesic effect.
While some interventions offer benefit for some patients, additional treatment alternatives
are needed for patients with FM in whom currently available options are either ineffective or
poorly tolerated. Given its physiological effect, HBOT could be considered as a potential
therapy for treatment of underlying muscular hypoxia, optimizing oxidant- antioxidant system
and controlling FM symptoms. The results from this study could therefore provide new
information supporting the basic science underling the pathophysiology of this disease and
stimulate novel therapies for patients suffering with FM.
Thoracic spinal anesthesia is safe for patients undergoing abdominal cancer surgery.
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