Dr. Stephen J. D’Amato didn’t start out as a pain relief specialist, but in 30 years in emergency medicine, he says, he has seen both the suffering that chronic pain can cause, and the negative effects of the drugs and invasive therapies often used to treat it.
In January, D’Amato opened a clinic in North Providence offering an alternative: the Calmare Therapy Treatment, developed in Italy and brought to the United States by Competitive Technologies Inc. [NYSE Amex: CTT]. This month, he was named to the company’s medical advisory board, which will guide the further development and commercialization of the device.
D’Amato answered questions about the Calmare system.
PBN: How did you learn about Calmare, and how did you come to set up a clinic to offer it here?
D’AMATO: I began my journey when a friend asked me to look into a therapy in Italy for chronic pain relief. This eventually led me to invest a great deal of my time and energy researching the technology, indications, and the scientific data supporting its credibility. I went to Italy twice, first to speak with medical school colleagues practicing in Italy, and next to personally study under professor Giuseppe Marineo, the inventor of the device.
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PBN: How does the system work?
D’AMATO: This technology breaks away from the “gate control theory” and instead uses the “information theory” of pain. Through surface electrodes, much like an EKG, the Calmare Therapy Treatment device can transmit strings of synthetically produced “non-pain action potentials” to the C-fibers, which are the principal conduits of pain to the central nervous system. This “scrambled signal” is interpreted by the brain as “non-pain,” and very importantly, as “self.” Once the scrambled signal arrives, the patient immediately feels pain relief.
PBN: What kinds of patients would use this, and what are the benefits over other pain management options? How long does it last?
D’AMATO: This therapy is painless and noninvasive and has produced no known side effects to date in more than 3,000 patients in clinical trials in the EU. It can eliminate the dependence on narcotics and other mind-altering pharmaceuticals. Its main objective is to treat all chronic neuropathic pain, including visceral oncological pain, which by its very nature, is neuropathic. It is not intended for acute pain. Acute pain has a beginning, an end, and a survival purpose. Chronic pain has a beginning, with no end in sight, and it has no purpose. In fact, it is maladaptive and needs to be shut off.
The [typical] plan is to treat daily for five days, and after a two-day treatment holiday, treat up to five more times. The studies to date show a long-term response of up to three months for diffuse neuropathies (polyneuropathy) and over a year in mononeuropathies such as shingles (which may be considered a cure). For cancer visceral pain, a series of five to 10 treatments are required to get the patient totally pain-free, and then the treatments are on an as-needed basis. Ongoing diseases like cancer will require ongoing re-treatments as needed.
PBN: How expensive is this, and do insurers pay for it?
D’AMATO: The therapy is presently not covered by U.S. insurers, although several carriers are responding on a case-by-case basis. The cost is minimal compared to alternatives and in comparison to the costs already incurred by many patients: A one-hour treatment session is $150 (less than a session at most spas).
PBN: You’ve gotten really involved with Calmare and are now on Competitive Technologies’ medical advisory board. What do you hope to accomplish through your work with them?
D’AMATO: My goals is to help bring this exciting, new, non-painful, non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical technology to the forefront of neuropathic pain therapy, and ensure that Professor Marineo’s name goes down in the history of medical books as the man who ended all the deaths from the abuse of narcotics by “teaching” the brain to feel normal by using the theories of Claude Shannon’s Information Theory. This can be achieved using the Calmare Therapy Treatment device. … In so doing, I can also fulfill a lifelong dream of “giving back” to Italy and thank her for giving me the opportunity to become the physician I am today.
To learn more about D’Amato and the Calmare therapy, go to www.calmarpainrelief.com .
