Dr. Dumitru spoke about his time at the Bucharest Institute for Gerontology and Geriatrics, (which was the World’s first such establishment in 1956) at the First Monte Carlo Antiaging Conference ™, and an audio tape is available for purchase from IAS (please see order-form or website).
Indeed at the Second Monte Carlo Antiaging Conference ™, Dr. Dumitru was awarded the Monte Carlo Anti-Aging Award for Excellence in Anti-Aging Medicine, in recognition of his work and the work of the late Professor Ana Aslan for the early recognition, that aging itself required treatment and indeed prevention.
In this article, Dr. Dumitru informs us about the very long-term treatment one of his patients has experienced with Gerovital-H3 ®.
In 1989, Mr. H.V., was a 98-year old man who had graduated in philosophy and philology and worked as a German and French teacher in an urban environment until he had retired.
He had bronchopneumonia when he was 6-years old, arthritis developed when he was 40-years old, (this mainly consisted of lumbar disc-arthritis with sciatic attacks), furthermore he had repeated renal colic and internal and external haemorrhoids.
The patient’s family history
His mother died at the age of 97 and his father at 47 (from an acute pneumopathy). His maternal grand-mothers died at 80-years of “unknown” causes.
From his personal history; the patient always lived in an urban area. He had a mixed diet and moderate alcohol consumption. Up until the age of 60 he smoked up to 60-cigarettes daily! He stopped smoking on his own will at the age of 62.
The reasons that he came to see a doctor at the National Institute of Gerontology and Geriatrics in Bucharest in 1965, was that he was suffering from a depressive state, which was leading to a tendency to isolation. He also had intermittent pains, mostly on the cervical and lumbar spine, as well as the lower limbs. Furthermore he suffered from palpitations, arrhymia, memory impairment and constipation.
His height was 168cm, his weight was 78Kg. His skin appeared dry and rough with less elastic and persistent skin folds. There were “senile” spots on the face, trunk and dorsal side of the hands. His hair was brittle and dry with 80% achromotrichia. His body hair loss was diffusely distributed. He also had Gerontoxon; (gerontoxon or arcus senilis is a degenerative change in the cornea, commonly occurring in people past the age of 50 and appearing as a greyish white ring about one-two millimetres wide).
Musculoskeletal apparatus confirmed that he had dorsal kiphosis with lumbar rectitude. The cervical spine was sensitive to percussion, there were crepitations at the mobilization of the cervical column and knees and there was a limitation of the spine rotation and lateral and anterior flexation to 30 degrees. His hip flexion on the pelvis and the left coxofemeral abduction declined to 60 degrees. Finally, there was hypotrophy of the maseteric, temporal and interosseous muscles.
Respiratory apparatus confirmed that he had a thoracis perimeter and inspiration of 99cm, with an expiration of 96cm. He experienced a morning cough with mucous expectoration and had moderate hypersonority. Also present was a Alveolar murmur, rough near the basis and rare ronflant rales.
Cardiovascular apparatus confirmed that his Decubitus blood pressure was 160/80 mmHg and orthostatic blood pressure was 170/80 mmHg. VR = 77/ min. with extrasystolic arrhythmia. Heart sound II was louder by the aorta area and there was a short apexial systolic murmur. Also present were permeable indurated peripheral arteries and superficial leg varices.
Digestive apparatus confirmed a complete edenate. The hypotonos abdominal wall was rich with adipose tissue and diffuse gaseous distension. In the liver, the upper edge at the 5th intercostals space on the medioclavicular line and lower edge 1cm under the rebord had a harder consistency and was slightly sensitive.
Urogenital apparatus confirmed an intermittent dysuria and occasional nocturia with urinary flow discontinuation. The daily rate was 7-8/1.
Neuropsychiatric examination confirmed that he was neurologic, with a diminished ROT and no Achilles’ reflex. Noica’s sign was positive and his psychic displayed a depressed mood having had a loss of interest and pleasure for a period of 6-months. He was feeling a normal affectivity and diminished fixation memory. His appetite had declined and there had been an increase in sleep disturbances, as well as a decrease in energy, difficulty in concentration and sometimes displayed signs of psychomotor and agitation.
His sense organs showed signs of presbyopis with discrete hypoacousia but normal olfaction and taste.
His paraclinical tests were an EEG: SR of 66/min; AQRS= +30 degrees; P-Q=0.20 with atrial and medional premature ventricular contractions.
Pulmonary and cardiac X-rays ascended on the left hemidiaphargm with low mobility. Horizontalized heart and aorta had increased opacity.
Dynamometric tests showed a pre-exercise of 32/25 and a post-exercise of 26/18. Respiratory tests were BPI 72% and an AVC of 95%. Biochemical tests were Hb 80%; RBC 4,080,000; WBC 4,100 with a normal formula. The Urea was 0.50mg%; cholesterolemia of 232mg%, total lipids 990mg%, a beta/ alpha lipoproteins ratio of 3%. The urine gravity was 1017, PH=acid, and many leukocytes and frequent calcium oxalate was present. There were repeated urocultures and urinary infections of E. coli and Proteus.
The EEG showed a slow tracing, free of lesional foci and corresponded to his age.
The patient was suffering from a depressive disorder, cervico-lumbar osteoarthritis, chronic urinary infection (secondary to obstructive uropathy), benign hypertrophy of the prostate and varicose veins.
From 1965 until 1994, the patient received an annual course of 12 Gerovital-H3 ® ampoules, injected intramuscularly everyday, followed by a 2-week break and then 12-days with Gerovital-H3 ® tablets (2 a day 1 at 9am and the other at 3pm).
Over the period from 1965 to 1990, he displayed less cervical and lumbar spine pains and there were no repeated acute sciatic attacks. From 1980 onwards the patient had not had viral infections of the upper airways, nor acute bronchitis. The respiratory tests showed the discrete enhancement of the obstructive ventilation dysfunction. His BPI declined to 68% and AVC to 81.5%. Since 1972, his blood pressure became stable at 140Hgmm over 80-85Hgmm. The premature ventricular contractions became monfocal, monomorphous. The varicose veins of the legs persevered, but have created neither trophic nor thrombotic complications.
The patient still suffered from bacteraemia with E. coli and Proteus, but since 1980, no subjective symptoms of polakiuria or dysuria appeared, despite bacteraemia. Dynamic tests pointed out the lowering of both clearance rates; urea 19ml/min. and creatinine 63ml/min.
As for his neuropsychic system, except for the periods of acute respiratory or urinary episodes (when the psychic functions lowered), the patient displayed no other deterioration and carried out multiple intellectual activities, including translation and typewriting. Until 1984, he also used to make long journeys.
Compared to 1965 (when the patient begun treatment at the age of 74), in 1989 (when the patient was 98-years old), he had the appearance of a longevous-orthogerous person (Figure 1). The patient’s height was 165cm (Figure 2) and weight 70Kg (Figure 3) and his appetite was preserved.
The elasticity of his skin improved and his extremities were warm. The skin on the back of his neck has remained remarkably supple (Figure 4). The rhomboidal skin (specific to elderly people) is absent.
His cervical and knee pains disappeared. His lumbar pains appear seldom, and mostly appear only when he is carrying heavy things. There is slightly apparent dorsal kiphosis (Figure 5), but no forward body flexion when walking.
The frequency of acute respiratory infections or influenza-like symptoms lowered gradually. After a bronchopneumonia in 1980, the patient suffered in 1982 from a nasopharyngeal cathar from which he recovered rapidly in 2-3 days, without any anti-biotic therapy. Despite the previously rich pathological respiratory history, AVC decreased during the first 10-years of treatment similarly with the standard curve of the decade of 60 to 69 years, preserving a good bronchial permeability index (Figure 6).
The patient’s very good memory was particularly noted, as was his lack of depression and improvement of attention (Figure 7). He made good conversation on various topics and was interested in current events. His personality pattern was normal (Table 1) and he made annual journeys in the country and abroad, speaking both German and French (as well as his native tongue) and personally conducting a large amount of correspondence and translations.
The patient is willing to work and has a more active neuropsychic presence than 10-years before! He also continues to take daily walks without any aids.
From the parameters investigated comparatively with standard values, mention should also be made of:
Conclusion
The life-expectancy of the patient’s generation was 5.8 years at the beginning of the treatment in 1965 (and at the beginning of that treatment he cannot have been considered to be in good health, as the personal examination above reveals). However, the patient outlived this by a further 23.2 years despite his multiple ailments.
I appreciate that the above data indicates objectively the overall improvement in this patient’s functions. I estimate from the biological parameters that with Gerovital-H3 ® treatment, the patient’s bio-markers place him at a healthy 70 something-year old, whereas in-fact he was chronologically very close to 100.
