Basic Principles of the Gas Discharge Visualisation Technique.
Korotkov K.G.
The diagnostic stage is the most important phase in the process of therapy as it helps to choose the most acurate way of treatment and checks the patient’s organism’s reaction all environmental influences considered.
Diagnostic metods which are used in medico-biological practice have many advantages but they also have some significant limitations: the majority of them reflects the state of separate organs and systems in isolation from the general state of the organism; some of them have an influence on the state of the organism; as a rule all of them require big financial and expluatational expenses; there are very few methods of dynamic follow up of the biological organism’s state during the carried out therapy or other influence. As the possibility of mistake in making subjective diagnostical conclusions grow, the demands to the personnel’s qualificalion rise too. Thus, in order to solve a wide range of medico-biological tasks it is important to ellaborate automated systems of dynamic diagnostics which should be simple in use, noninvasive and reliable. At the same time more and more high qualified medical men realise the necessity of introduction of methods of cholistic system express-diagnostics of the biological object’s (BO) (and people’s first of all) state.
Effect of different objects'(including biological ones) radiance in high-voltage electro-magnetic fields has been known for more than two centuries. In the middle of the last centurг the link of such radiance and man’s psycho-physiological state (PPS) was discovered [Gribkovsky 1988], later the phenomenon was studied thoroughly by Russian technician Semyon D. Kirlian and his wife Valentina, whose work merited international acknoledgement.
In 70-80es they were published many works devoted to different ways of Kirlian effect‘s application, in particular, efficiant diagnostic systems based on photo pictures’ application were developed and a big mass of experimental data was collected [Mandel, Lerner, Melholmens]. In 1978 the International Union for Medical and Applied Bioelectrography (IUMAB) was created in the USA and England, and since then it has actively conducted international work. At the same time there were many obstacles preventing introduction of Kirlian effect’s metods in practice: lack of systematic clinical studies and, thus, lack of statistic material on different states of organism, types of pathology, disturbance of vital functions, etc.; inconvenience of the method for practical application because of the photographic process and using of darkened rooms; difficulty of published data’s reproduction because of methodic standards’ and model technical means’ absence; absence of quantitative data processing etc.
In 1996 the ‘Crown TV’ firmware complex (‘GDV-Camera‘) representing a principally new example of technique based on the Kirlian effect was created. It uses transformation of the light field into Gas Discharge Image by means of optoelectronic devices, TV matrixes primarilly; translation of the picture into digital code and its program quantitative processing in the real time scale.
The principle of its work is illustrated by p.1. The studied biological object (BO) 1 is placed on the glass plate 2 covered inside with special transparent бurrent conducting surfaces 3. While the short (10 microseconds) voltage impulses from the generator 4 are being sent on the surfaces, the radiance arises around BO, and it is registrated by CCD element 6 with special optics 5 and is transformed into computer file with special unit 7. The device’s work is based on the in-depth understanding of the physical principles of the picture formation and applies the parametres which are optimum for information retrieval.
Along with the hardware the complex contains software part, and the latter plays as important role as the former. It allows to get important information from the gas discharge image of the object and to extract diagnostical information on the base of its mathematical parametres’ analysis. Thus, Gas Discharge Visualisation (GDV) Technique implicates computerized processing and interpretation of the data carried by radiance impulses, which appear while the skin cover areas are being treated by serial impulses of electromagnetic field (EMF). This process is based on the following principles.
The analysis of data received by numerous researchers of Kirlianography shows that in tha process of GDV the studied object is included in the circuit of impulse and high-frequency current passing. The circuit can be closed either by placing of electrodes on the object’s surface, or by capacity link of the object and earth pole of voltage generator. In any case the parameters of the passing current are defined by complex impedance of the object. Analysis of electric processes in such systems shows that if a man or an animal contacts with the voltage source as short impulses or alternate one with frequency of more than hundreds of kilohertz, electric current flows along the outer surface of the skin cover, and does not influence on the state of internal organs and systems (so-called ‘skin-effect’).
EMF is the ‘generating field’, provoking the respond of BO with gas discharge parameters’ modification and optical radiance caused by it, correlated with the change of BO properties. According to the classification given by Prof.E.P.Popechitelev […] such method refers to ‘passive physiological methods’and its principles can be presented as a scheme of p.2.
BO state is characterised by functional level, where the terminative part is played by physiological processes and medico-biological indicators as GDV process puts it.
Change of all the levels tells on the GDV process’ characteristics basically because of the following processes’ variation:
– total impedance of BO
– impedance of BO surface’s areas
– structural BO properties
– gas medium close to BO surface
– emission properties of BO
Variations of the following processes show themselves actively on the outer cover of BO (skin) because of reflexogenic zones and biologically active points. These processes influence gas discharge via electomagnetic field variations (or directly) and cause its parameters’ modifications. The parameters are characteristics of discharge current and optical radiance. The analysis of different characteristics results in generation of parameters’ layout which is a parametrical description of two-dimensional discharge radiation field. In order to make a diagnosis it is necessary to set up some hypotheses on link of mathematical parameters of this fractal field and BO properties.
Having carried out a multiannual cycle of activities we suggested and gave scientific grounds for a new approach to BO’s level of vital activity by means of system evaluation of complex parameters of gas discharge radiance, inductioned by BO, which lets classify GDV-gramms of BO according to their psycho-physiological state and to carry out their follow-up. That allowed to develop and to approve experimentally methods of GDV technique practical application in different spheres of medico-biological practice:
– in studies of liquid phase objects: microbiological cultures, blood samples, biologically-active liquids, activated water;
– in studies of vegetable objects;
– in express-diagnostics of man’s psycho-physiological state inter vivos, after death and in changed states of conscience; on different stages of vital activity to reveal pathological states;
– while BO state’s monitoring in real scale of time.
The conclusion can be made on the basis of the conducted tests, that the developed method is one of few instrumental methods which let evaluate the state of not a separate organ or system, but the whole organism in general, and to study the relations between its separate parts. As the developed practical applicants have shown, it has the following advantages:
– information objectivity – it does not depend on wish or experience of the user;
– noninvasivity, safety and total sterility;
-possibility of the follow up, comparison of structural, functional and time processes in the organism;
– ease and convenience of method – there are no special demands to the room, environmental conditions, user’s qualification; information is taken only from the patient’s limbs;
– good layout and possibility to interpret the received results, convenience of their keeping and processing;
– comparatively low costs of the equipment and the procedure itself.
At present time GDV method is being developed actively. The firmware complexes are being mass-produced, more than a hundred GDV complexes has been sent to all parts of the world for two years. The received results open new prospects of GDV method application.