He said more than 100 patients have used the machine and a significant number trust it. At SGH, the treatment period is only 4 weeks. If you want to continue, you will have to pay the fee at QuantumTX in Tiong Bahru. The cost is $50 for a 10-minute session.
Previous studies have shown that the ideal treatment is 10 minutes, up to three times a week. Increasing the number of repetitions will weaken mitochondrial stimulation.
One of Professor Tay’s patients, Mrs Louisa Cheng (82), was struggling to stand up. After trying this machine at SGH two years ago, he continued his rehabilitation at AWWA, which also has the same machine. Now she has no difficulty getting up.
QuantumTX has applied to both the Health Sciences Administration (HSA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval of its next-generation machine. This allows medical professionals to adjust the signal strength to suit the patient’s frailty.
The current machine is marketed as a wellness machine and does not require approval from health regulators.
Professor Tay said that if approved by the HSA, he would urge hospitals to purchase several Bixeps machines so that patients undergoing physiotherapy can benefit from Bixeps.
But researchers are now discovering that the benefits of using this machine go beyond just increasing muscle strength.
Professor Tay said that in addition to muscle strengthening, patients also saw an increase in bone density as the myokines produced by the mitochondria spread throughout the body.
Professor Franco Obregon said NUS has also started two clinical trials of Bixeps in patients suffering from breast cancer and leukemia to see if it can reduce the inflammation that worsens these diseases. They also hope it can slow cancer progression. He said preliminary results were promising.
