Therapeutic use of moderate magnetostatic fields

Abstract

A big debate is still dividing the scientific community about detrimental or beneficial effects of Static Magnetic Fields (SMFs) exposure on living matter. The heterogeneous findings are depending on the different experimental set up used, i.e., magnetic induction from 10$^-7$ to more than 10 T, homogenous or inhomogeneous field, time of exposure and on the biological samples, i.e., from in vitro cultured cells to living organisms. In spite of the amount of publications providing medical evidence for the beneficial effects of SMF exposure can exert on living matter, a researcher must kept his obligatory scepticism due to the difficulties comparing different measurements, to the commercial interests and to poor scientific rigor. Nevertheless, their use has gained wide community acceptance for pain relief but not for more serious diseases, such as cancer. In this mini-review we will discuss on the studies on the therapeutic use of moderate magnetic induction SMFs, focusing on those produced by permanent magnets.