Injectable light, platelet-based treatments, and an oxygen chamber are among the latest cutting-edge technologies being offered now.

A-Institute, the brainchild of doctor couple Aivee and Z Teo, is moving toward a more holistic approach to beauty and health. It offers the most intriguing treatments, such as Aivee Light, an intravenous light therapy (light is injected into your veins); Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP), an autologous, cell-based treatment for pain management and for faster healing of surgical and musculoskeletal trauma; and the new hyperbaric oxygen chamber to speed up recovery in post-op patients and treatment injuries.

Hyperbaric therapy has long been a well-established treatment for deadly decompression sickness, also known as the bends or Caisson disease, experienced by scuba divers or high-altitude climbers, when nitrogen bubbles affect the joints, lungs, heart, skin and brain.

The treatment has found its way into mainstream medicine, helping heal wounds among diabetics, promoting faster recovery for sports injuries, accelerating healing and promoting less downtime for post-op patients, decreasing chronic pain.

It’s about breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized tube or chamber. The tube is made of glass, so patients don’t become claustrophobic during the one to one-and-a-half-hour treatment. A monitor is hooked up to the internet for entertainment, and the tube has speakers to enable communication with the team outside.

100-percent oxygen

“The purpose is to push oxygen molecules right into your soft tissues, increasing your oxygen levels. A normal atmosphere will have 20 to 25-percent oxygen. But if you go to a hyperbaric chamber, it changes the atmosphere to 100-percent oxygen to forcefully push oxygen molecules into your system,” said Dr. Charlie Poblete.

Poblete is an orthopedic trauma surgeon specializing in pain management. He heads the A-Institute’s orthobiologic treatment under Ortho Sports.

“Oxygen is taken up through breathing. When we inhale oxygen it goes into our lungs, and our lungs push out the molecules into the hemoglobin in our blood, carrying the oxygen throughout our body,” Poblete said.

For muscle injuries, for example, where circulation of the blood is affected, the oxygen pushed into the tissues will make the healing happen faster. When a tissue is injured, it needs more oxygen to heal and survive. An increase in blood oxygen temporarily restores normal levels of blood gases and tissue function, promoting healing and fighting infection.

The tube, where patients are rolled in lying down, has a pressurized environment. Complications are said to be rare, since hyperbaric treatment is generally a safe procedure.

“If you have severe arthritis and are advised surgery and you come here expecting a miracle, that’s not going to happen. Our treatments are condition-dependent. If you have a certain amount of deformity, either congenital or acquired, that’s hard to treat,” Poblete said. “This is not a magic treatment. It’s a biologic treatment, which means the healing is biologic. You must wait.”

Another treatment is Platelet Rich Plasma, a procedure essential in healing. Doctors will harvest blood from the patient and extract platelets using scientifically devised equipment. There are the red blood cells with hemoglobin to carry oxygen in the body, white blood cells that fight infection and platelets that coagulate the blood, creating clots for wound healing.

Platelets, Poblete said, attract stem cells as well, creating a scaffold for regenerated tissue. Platelets attract all the right chemical mediators into the area to promote healing. They promote cell division, increase production of collagen, the basic molecular structure of almost all tissues such as muscles, tendons, and promote the production of more blood vessels.

Combine all those to turn your body into a healing machine. PRP is injected directly into the injured area.

“It’s been proven that if you concentrate the platelets, the amount of growth factors also increases, and you have better healing capabilities injected right into the problem,” he said.

Stem cells are baby cells, which have not yet differentiated into their assigned cellular structure. They are very different from PRP.

PRP attracts the stems so the stem cells can transform into the tissue itself. If the skin is damaged, the stem cells will transform into skin cells, for example.

This is ideal for muscle strains, post-op ligament reconstruction, ankle sprains, ulcerated wounds in diabetic patients. They can be used on tendons, sports injuries, arthritic joints, lower back injuries, degenerative disc disease, tennis elbows, carpal tunnel syndrome, incomplete ACL tears, shin splints, partial rotator cuff tears, plantar fasciitis and iliotibial band syndrome.

Blood cell replenishment

A-Institute also offers the Aivee Light Therapy, an innovative 60-minute treatment that improves overall health and well-being by accelerating the replenishment of blood cells through visible wavelengths of red, green and UVA light.

Wavelengths of light are directly shot into the blood through an intravenous catheter to reduce bodily pains, accelerate wound healing and reduce inflammation. Light therapy is now widely accepted in Europe.

“The key word is inflammation. Think of all the conditions and pain that you have in your body; the pain is usually caused by inflammation. Aivee Light is like a fire extinguisher, putting out the pain in the body,” said Dr. Z.

“If you don’t want to take medications, this is a natural way of helping your body fight infection, fight inflammation and increase its resistance to diseases,” Dr. Aivee said.

Light therapy history

Light therapy dates back to the late 1800s. A Nobel Prize was awarded to the man who discovered its healing properties, Dr. Niels Ryberg Finsen, who learned that the bacteria-killing properties of UV rays could eliminate tuberculosis-caused skin lesions. In the 1920s, UV light was used to treat infectious blood diseases by extracting blood, irradiating it with UV light, then reinjecting it into the patients.

Numerous studies have been done on light therapy through the years, but the treatment fell out of favor with the spread of antibiotics and vaccines. Today, with some people developing resistance to antibiotics, light therapy is again in fashion. Hospitals still use UV light to disinfect its rooms.

“With Aivee Light, the bloodstream is washed clean for one hour. There is no risk of burns or allergies. It is a very safe procedure,” Dr. Z said.

“The challenge for doctors is not only to ensure that results are good, but that recovery is also more pleasant. That’s why we’re always on the lookout for new treatments that will reduce the patient’s downtime and recovery period,” Dr. Aivee said.

Aivee Light is for pain reduction, wound healing, pathogen deactivation, reduction of inflammation, immune system modulation, cell regeneration and neuron repair, increased stem cell proliferation and enhanced stem cell survivability.

“We are not only catering to the skin but going toward a whole wellness program, to treat patients not only on the outside but also on the inside. These treatments complement each other,”
Dr. Aivee said.

Visit www.theainstitute.com; A-Institute is at 3/F Burgos Park Building, Forbestown Road, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig; e-mail [email protected]; call 9421697.