Official website of Tibetan Medical & Astro.Insittue of H.H.The Dalai Lama

A pilot study on the effect of Tibetan medicine on patients with rheumatoid arthritis was done in collaboration with Institute of Biological Anthropology of Oxford University for three months from 1st May - 30th July 1994 at MTK branch clinic at McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala. There were 103 patients and it was a comparative study between Tibetan and Western medicine. The TM treatment involves advise on diet, behaviour and external application in the form of paste. TM showed some 80% improvement though it was not conclusive statistically. Western medicine showed greater relieve in alleviating pain while TM showed more improvement in the joint movement. The paper was published in Men-Tsee-Khang official Tibetan Journal in its IV volume.

Another pilot study was done in collaboration with Dutch Foundation for Tibetan Medicine for 12 months from March 1996 - March 1997. The primary objective was to register the effect of TM on the treatment of patients with rheumatic diseases. It was an open label, non-interventional, single-centre, phase IV pilot study. The patient received the TM next to their usual treatment, if any. After a year treatment, improvement can be seen in 9 out of 12 parameters. Since only subjective parameters were measured in this pilot study, a clinical trial measuring also objective parameters (such as: hemoglobin, platelets, blood sedimentation rate and immunoglobulins) is crucial to prove if TM can be of use in the treatment of patients with rheumatic diseases.

Efficacy of TM as an adjunct in the treatment of type 2 diabetes was done in collaboration with All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India. Diabetes is the most frequently seen chronic disease in MTK clinics. Ancient texts of TM outline the successful management of diabetes. However, there is a paucity of systematic research studies using

modern scientific tools to evaluate the efficacy of TM. Therefore, we undertook a study to assess the efficacy of TM when combined with a diet & exercise regimen compared with a diet & exercise regimen alone in controlling the blood glucose and glycated hemoglobin (GHb) in newly diagnosed or untreated type 2 diabetes. A total of newly diagnosed or untreated type 2 diabetic patients, who were eligible and consented to participate in the trial, were recruited from two branch clinics of MTK.

At each centre, all of the 200 subjects, 136 men and 64 women, were randomised into two groups, the treatment group and the control group. Fasting blood glucose levels decreased by 12.2 ± 30.5% at 12 weeks and by 23.4 ± 20.0% at 24 weeks in the treatment group as compared with 7.4 ±30 and 6.4 ± 27.7% in the control group. The PPG measurement was significantly lower in the treatment group at 12 and 24 weeks (decrease of 18.0 ± 31.2 and 23.4 ± 27.1%) compared with the control group (decrease of 5.5 ± 32.9 and 10.0 ± 41.2%). At 12 weeks, the percentage decrease in GHb levels was 1.9 ± 35.8% in the control group compared with 17.5 ± 31.3% in the treatment group. At 24 weeks, the decrease in GHb was 21.8 ± 30.1% in the treatment group compared with 6.7 ± 29.3% in the control group. There was no significant change in body weight, blood pressure, or serum lipids in either group.

The preliminary trial has shown a positive effect of the use of TM in management of diabetes mellitus. Further evaluation of the TM in treating patients with DM will require blinded placebo controlled trails, and comparison of this system with other oral hypoglycemic agents.

The American Diabetes Association, Inc, published the study as an observation letter in Diabetes Care 24: 176-177, 2001. The study’s full report was published by Men-Tsee-Khang and presented to His Holiness the Dalai Lama during His visit to MTK on 7th Dec’ 2000.

Diabetes Survey: A descriptive study was done to study the prevalence of diabetes mellitus in Tibetan settlements in South India in December 1997. There has been no reported study of DM among the Tibetan population. In this study, the crude prevalence rate of DM was 4.3%. DM can be considered to be a significant problem in this migrant Tibetan population. One also needs to take note of very high prevalence of hypertension in the Tibetan population. A note should also be made of a possibly high occurrence of cerebrovascular disease. Separate studies on hypertension and stroke are needed to confirm their high prevalence.

Cancer is one of the chronic diseases TM has shown some positive effect depending on the stage of the disease. The need to design a clinical study was felt for a long time and during a meeting on cancer in 1996, it was decided to commence with a base-line study before launching on a clinical study. The objectives of this study was to identify the type of cancer TM is most effective; the stages of cancer; alleviating the symptoms; improving the quality of life & life span, and to specify the particular Tibetan drugs for cancer. The base-line study went through 1998 - 2001 registering 638 Cancer patients from 15 MTK’s branch clinics. The study showed marked improvement in alleviating the symptoms; controlling the disease; improving the quality of life physically & mentally and pre-longing the life span. 9 patients were reported completely cured.

Based on this preliminary study, a clinical study on ovarian cancer was designed in collaboration with All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. The study proposal has been submitted to AIIMS’s Ethical committee. The study will be commenced once it is accepted by the Ethical committee.

Heavy metals (gold, silver, copper, mercury, etc,) are part of gems and minerals, which forms 5-7% of medicinal substances used in TM. They are purified applying sophisticated method, which is one of the unique feature in TM. There have been numerous speculations over the use of heavy metals in TM over last few years. MTK has taken such speculations in her stride and had decided to design a toxicity study to authenticate this unique method of formulating purified mercury therapeutically.

The study was planned as an open, retrospective, controlled pilot study, constituting an initial feasibility stage of a larger, future prospective study. The study was done in collaboration with Natural Medicine Research Unit, Hadassah Medical Organization, Jerusalem, Israel; Delek Hospital, Dharamsala, India; Dept. of Toxicology, Sheba Medical Center Tel Aviv, Israel and Dept. of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK. Study participants were recruited from the outpatients department of the Delek Hospital where Western medicine is practiced. The volunteers who agreed to act as controls were recruited from the personnel working at MTK, known to be in good health. A total of 11 participants (9 patients, 2 controls) were recruited into the study. Each participant were examined and questioned by Western trained physicians at the Delek Hospital for any physical symptoms that include cardiovascular evaluation and a neurological examination (tremor, peripheral sensory neuropathy, motor neuropathy and tunnel vision). An oral examination evaluated the presence of loose teeth and dental fillings. Blood and urine sample was taken for evaluation in the Delek Hospital laboratory.

For analysis of whole blood and urine for mercury levels, the samples were transported to Israel in ice pack through air courier, delivered by hand to the Dept. of toxicology, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel.

Results: A total of 11 patients were evaluated for the study. They included 6 patients in Group I (mercury containing TM as Precious pills), 3 patients in Group II (non-mercury containing TM) and 2 participants in Group III (Controls). General and neurological examination were normal in group I & II. The mean serum level of liver and renal functions tests were within the normal clinical range and did not differ significantly between treatment and control groups. Evaluation of urine samples for red blood cells and protein were negative in all 3 groups. Serum mercury levels were non-detectable in all patients in Groups I, II & III. Mean urinary mercury levels were under normal range.

Although the study was small representing only the feasibility stage of a larger, future prospective study, nevertheless the results are of interest. It demonstrate for the first time that the patients ingesting high levels of mercury present in certain TM, over a pre-longed period of time, displayed little evidence of toxicity. The current study, although performed on only a small cohort of patients tend to support the hypothesis that a pre-longed intake of the “purified” form of mercury, known in TM as Tsothel is relatively non-toxic. These initials results are of particular interest in view of the growing popularity of TM in the West, however there is no doubt that further research needs to be performed.

A much larger prospective clinical study should be undertaken in patients taking mercury-containing TM, with periodic assessment of biochemical and clinicalmarkers, as well as serial documentation of mercury levels in serum, urine, hair and other tissues. In addition, the potentially therapeutic effect of purified mercury and precious pills should also be evaluated using well-defined laboratory models to identify the specific bioactivity of these preparation.