Related GH3 research report: 7 year Study Parhon institute
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Since 1956 news of the GH3 therapy has spread around the globe. Confirmation of the effectiveness of procaine as a treatment for many of the diseases of old age began to accumulate. More and more of the original skeptics have begun their own clinical trials of this therapy, and reports of their work appear in increasing number.
Switzerland
In November, 1957, a group of Swisstologists-Gassman, Jacquerod, Laepple Schaefer-reported on their first clinical trials lows:
"The procaine treatment introduced by Aslan was applied in 28 cases; 22 of the patients presented diffuse or localized lesions of the central nervous system: hemiplegia (paralysis), hemiparesis (muscle weakness), spasmodic ataxia (spastic disturbance of muscle coordination), postapoplectic (following a stroke) or arteriosclerotic dementia. Each patient received three 100 mg intramuscular injections a week (5 cc of the 2 per cent solution) in series of 12 injections, separated by ten-day intervals. . . . We obtained lasting results in 25 per cent of the cases, such as improvement of the subjective state, buoyancy of the psychical tonus, slight euphoria, sometimes a better physical tonus in walking and in voluntary motility, and disappearance of sphincteral incontinence."
France
In the Revue Francaise de Gerontologie (April, 1959) Professor H. Portias of Paris, one of Prof. Aslan's early antagonists, reported on his experience with 86 aged patients whom he treated with procaine. Not being able to use placebos, he still endeavored to avoid the possibility of purely psychotherapeutical effects by telling the patients of his inexperience with the method and of his skepticism as to its efficacy.
Professor Portias' patients suffered from the usual signs of old age: arterio- and venosclerosis, chronic cough, wrinkled skin, rheumatism, and various arthritic conditions. He subjected them all to five months of
procaine injections, at the customary rate of three per week; beneficial effects, except in the less severe cases of senility, could hardly be expected in so short a period. Yet in more than half of the patients the results were either "very good" (15 cases) or they were "improved" (30 cases). Twenty patients felt a bit better, 21 showed no change in their condition, and only three of the 86 showed any side effects which could be regarded as serious.
In the 15 cases in which the results were very good,
Prof. Portias noted "a physical and morale stimulation, with a disappearance of all signs of fatigue. The patients experienced a euphoric feeling. . . . disappearance of anxiety and its physical counterpart, fear, an increase in sexual power (the Russians, by the way, treat impotence with intravenous injections of GH3 procaine . . . . These results remained after the treatment was stopped." He also mentions that the cholesterol level of the blood, while initially increasing, soon falls.
Professor Portias' conclusions:
"This is an interesting treatment, happily complementing other geriatric therapies, but no general panacea. For the time being the enthusiasm in Bucharest does not seem to be justified in all cases, even though it is true that our patients were treated for only five months. In any event it seems that the therapy is most efficacious where there exists a clear imbalance of the autonomic (involuntary) nervous system. Another very interesting technique is the combination of procaine with other substances, either simultaneously or following it."
Early in 1959 at a meeting of the Scientific-Medical
Section of the International Federation of Deportees in Vienna, Austria, the Parisian physician Dr. E. Soladie reported on his first trials with five deportees whom he had been treating .with procaine injections for several months. He made the following points:
1. The action on the skin is quite obvious; the grey appearance, so characteristic of suffering persons, is disappearing. The face takes on a natural, healthy color, the eyes become livelier. After only four months the hair shows signs of repigmentation and the zones of baldness diminish. Eczemas of different etiology have either vanished or are retrogressing.
2. None of his five patients was constantly tired as before. The irritability diminished, the sleep was bet
ter. All had reacquired a desire to work. In four of the five the appetite had improved.
3. Only in one of the five patients was there no effect with regard to sexual functions. In two, there has been a complete revival of libido (in one, after three years of enforced abstinence); in the other two, a normalization of the act.
Germany
In a private talk with the author Dr. Udo Kohler, who was one of the first to undertake clinical trials to check Prof. Aslan's results, revealed that even after giving the GH3 procaine therapy for more than two years, he was still often surprised at the results. He mentioned the case of one of his patients, a dentist, whose hobby was gardening. After the first half dozen injections, this patient asked for Dr. Kohler, who fully expected some complaint. But the dentist, a man in his middle sixties, told him: "You know how I love gardening. But in recent years I have had trouble remembering the names of the different flowers, and their Latin names escaped me completely. Now they have all of a sudden come back." And he proceeded to rattle off dozens of Latin names of the many plants he had in his garden.
More scientific evidence was presented in a case history reported by Dr. Kohler in 1958.
"Dr. G., born February 8, 1877. Symptoms of cerebral sclerosis known for 20 years, accompanied by arterial hypotension. He had been forced to retire from his profession because not only the disturbances as circumscribed by the Korsakov syndrome were apparent, but also increasing vertigo had gained in intensity to such a degree that treatment with GH3 (a German preparation-procaine plus vitamins) was deemed necessary. Objectively the heart muscle did not yet show any indications of considerable myocardial damage. But many extra systoles, particularly after effort, indicated an existing hypoxia of the heart muscle. Paroxysms became so pronounced that the patient would lose his balance in changing from a lying to a sitting position.
"After only the second GH3 injection the patient reported a certain improvement. At the end of the fIrst series, he was virtually without dizziness. Only in the mornings did he still observe slight dizziness-when arising too quickly. Next to the impressive eutrophic skin effect, the most remarkable sign was the return of mental capacities. The old gentleman once again participated in scientifIc forums, and recently-for the fIrst time in over two years-played four-hand piano again. His partner (an internist himself) was quite astonished to fInd that the playing was considerably better than it had been two years previously, when the patient had abandoned the instrument because of his physical defIciencies."
In Medizinische Monatsschrift of May 1959, published in Frankfurt, Dr. F. Petersen, a neurologist
from Halle, East Germany, reported on 137 cases of
cerebral sclerosis he had treated with procaine over a period of two years (June, 1956 to June, 1958). In 13 of these cases, all symptoms of the illness disappeared;
in 35, there was marked improvement; in 56, some I improvement; 27 remained unchanged; and in six cases I there was further deterioration. This means that in 104 I (or 76 per cent) of the cases, treatment by procaine injections was to some extent successful, while other therapies offered little relief for these patients.
Doctor Petersen's figures become even more impressive if one considers only those patients suffering from a state of arteriosclerotic debility. Of the 137 patients he treated, 88 fell into this group, and of these all but four (or 95.4 per cent) were improved: ten were considered cured, in 33, there was marked improvement,
and in 41, some improvement of their complaints. Of eight stroke patients, seven showed improvement, and five out of nine patients with Parkinson's disease were also improved after the treatment. Two of the four patients suffering from encephalomalacie (softening of the brain) were also improved. But with his 20 senile psychotic patients Dr. Petersen reported almost complete failure: only one of these showed some improvement, 14 were unchanged and five actually grew worse. His statistics are shown in the table.
In 1962, Professor F.H. Schulz, head of the First Medical Division of the famed Charite in East Berlin,
was able to report about animal tests undertaken by himself and his collaborators showing that the procain therapy delayed aging of vascular walls. This could explain why the use of GH3 has the effect of approximating rejuvenation.
In later chapters, particularly Chapters 16 and 18, we shall discuss other confirming reports, several of
them originating in the United States. American scientists were late in testing this drug but once they embarked on this task, they were able to bring in some very interesting results.
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H3 Book Index:: Chapters 1-29
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