"Nordenström's theory offers important implications throughout the entire range of normal and pathologic physiology. With profound conviction, I dare assert that no vital process can be fully understood without considering this new electrophysiologic theory. A vast field of multidisciplinary research is opening before us. Numerous concepts which today are confusing, including chemotaxis, are here clarified. I cannot resist emphasizing the fascinating and broad medical scope of this book, i.e. a new view on carcinogenesis and a therapeutic mode against cancer which theoretically offers possibilities against diverse inflammatory states, fractures, atheromas and neurologic complications of various diseases. Moreover, this book offers new scientific bases which will reorient future research on a wide range of hitherto poorly understood processes, e.g., acupuncture, oral galvanism, meteorologic influences on human beings, types of adipose tissue, diverse secretory mechanisms, diurnal cycles and embryogenesis. This list of disparate functions leaves unmentioned many other applications. In particular, extrapolation of the theory at the intracellualar level offers many possible consequences.

The coming years will see a wealth of experimentation derive from this new approach to electrophysiology. Its full importance is today impossible to appreciate. For example, disparities of findings noted heretofore between in vitro and in vivo work can now be assessed anew. The implications of Nordenström's theory appear far-reaching even beyond today's most enlightened suspicions."

Jacques C Hauton, D.M.D.Sc, Professor of Biochemistry, Institut National de la Santé, France

I. Summary. II. Radiographic detectability of corona structures. III. Corona structures around malignant and benign neoplasms in the lung. IV. Corona structures around inflammatory lesions, incl. those of silicosis. V. Discussion of the radiological observations of corona structures. VI. Electric potentials in normal lung, pleura and liver and in focal pulmonary lesions, incl. bronchogenic carcinoma. VII. Spontaneous development of the fluctuating injury potential in tissue. VIII. Concentration-dispersion forces: A brief review of intermolecular physical behaviour. IX. Water: Electroosmotic transport over closed electric circuits. X. Corpuscular movements and structrual development: Effects of molecular and electric field forces. XI. Structural effects on an artificial tumour in dog lung. XII. Biologically closed electric circuits (BCEC). XIII. Energetics of BCEC systems, ionars and ergonars. XIV. Experimental activation of vascular-interstitial closed circuit effects. XVI. Tissue transformations over BCEC in cancer of the breast. XVII. Applications of the principle of BCEC for treatment of cancer.  XVIII. Afterword: A discussion of principles and consequences of biologically closed circuits (BCEC).

It has not been the policy of Investigative Radiology to publish book reviews. However, the work by Nordenström reviewed below presents such fundamental and far-reaching concepts that a review was deemed desirable in order to call this book to the attention of those who read Investigative Radiology. The importance of the concepts presented in Dr. Nordenströms book cannot be overemphasized. Those who are interested in fundamental biological observations will be fascinated by the logical progression of this most imaginative work.

Biologically Closed Electric Circuits, Björn E. W. Nordenström, MD,
(Nordic Medical Publications, Arsenalsgatan 4, S-1ll 47 Stockholm, Sweden),

This remarkable book introduces a new physiologic concept that could solve many long-standing biologic problems. This far-reaching concept evolved from a series of ingenious experiments that began with the author's search for the explanation of a curious pattern that he observed on a chest x-ray about 30 years ago. His investigations carried him well beyond the original problem and produced original insights into such fundamental processes as wound healing, organ development and differentiation, and extra-cellular fluid dynamics. The primary direction of the book is understanding the interaction of malignant tumors with their surrounding tissues. It leads on the one hand to a possible mechanism of carcinogenesis and on the other to a proposed new mode of therapy of malignancies.

Dr. Nordenström has discovered a new circulatory system that is based on spontaneously occurring electrical potentials. Potential gradients have long been known to develop in normal organs as a result of metabolism and in injured or diseased tissue as a result of hemorrhage or necrosis. The investigations detailed in this book reveal that these potentials are more than just a source of error in bioelectric measurements, that, in fact, they drive electric current through what the author calls biologically closed electric circuits (BCEC).

Blood plasma and interstitial fluid are examples of ionic media capable of effectively conducting current. Blood vessel walls and the cells and membranes that surround interstitial spaces insulate these conducting media from their surroundings. Plasma and interstitial fluid are electrically joined across capillary membranes. Thus, blood vessels and interstitial spaces function as insulated electric cables that carry current and transport charged particles over short and long distances. Other BCEC probably also exist, but the book examines this particular circuit in detail, documenting its existence and function with a series of experiments using physical analogs of biologic organs and organ systems, animal models, and tumor and tissue specimens obtained at autopsy or surgical resection. The resultant hypotheses are tested in a series of careful and humane diagnostic experiments and therapeutic trials performed on consenting human volunteers with malignant diseases.

Credit should be given to Dr. John Austin who spent many hours revising the manuscript. The book is written in a lucid, concise prose style and presents its material in approximately chronologic order. Thus, the reader is shown the stepwise development of this complex concept in what must be very close to the way that the author himself arrived at his conclusions. This method of presentation tantalizes the reader as it builds from the proposal of a simple hypothesis to its experimental documentation to the next hypothesis, and gradually but convincingly expands the reader's understanding as the investigations progress to more and more basic levels of biologic insight. Like most significant scientific innovations, the ideas are simple and, once proposed, the reader must wonder why something so obvious took so long to surface. Yet the originality or the hypotheses, the thought processes that led to them, and the experiments that prove them are astounding.

In the mid 1950s Dr. Nordenström observed a peculiar series of radiating and circumferential patterns surrounding a primary carcinoma of the lung on a chest radiograph. He called this pattern corona structures, because of the similarity to the corona of the sun. A prospective study over several years revealed that corona structures were present with considerable frequency around pulmonary malignancies, pulmonary granulomas, and even hamartomas. The book begins the analysis of these structures with a careful description using radiographs of many patients and using serial radiographs of the same patient. The alteration of corona structures with time and the disappearance of some of them with the development of pneumothorax led Dr. Nordenström to postulate that some parts of this radiographic pattern resulted from an unexplained effect of pulmonary masses on distribution of lung water. Thus began a series of experiments that resulted in his conclusion that fluctuating electrical potentials originating within lung masses could alter extracellular fluid dynamics. The author demonstrated that electrical potentials do exist within lung masses by performing a series of measurements in patients undergoing needle biopsy. After preliminary experiments, he succeeded in reproducing corona structures in dogs by inplanting artificial "tumors" that produced potential gradients similar to those measured in human pulmonary masses.

The text proceeds to an investigation of the anatomy and physiology of these phenomena and leads to the development of the concept of energy conversion over BCEC. Along the way, explanations of a number of other biologic phenomena are proposed. After demonstrating that electrical potentials are spontaneously generated in organs such as the spleen, and that potentials of this magnitude lead to formation of fibrous tissue at electrical interfaces, the author postulates that organ capsules and other fibrous surfaces such as pleura and peritoneum are formed by BCEC. 

Platelets and leukocytes carry a surplus of fixed electronegative surface charges. Thus a spontaneously occurring positive polarity in injured tissue results in accumulation of platelets and then thrombosis of capillaries surrounding a site of injury. This mechanism can also account for attraction of leukocytes to a site of positive electrical potential in injured or diseased tissue.

To test the possibility that BCEC alter the tissue environment around tumors in organs other than the lung, the author undertook a series of experiments with human and animal breast tissue and human breast neoplasms. He demonstrated in a series of mammograms that corona structures similar to those that surround lung masses are present quite commonly around tumors of the breast. Spontaneous electrical potentials occur in breast tumors, just as in lung masses, and have a similar effect on tissue water distribution. However, the abundant fat in breast tissue permitted some even more surprising observations. Histologically normal human breast fat obtained from mastectomy specimens, when subjected to electrophoresis, developed fibrosis similar to the desmoplastic reaction that surrounds breast tumors. Within this desmoplastic tissue, structures developed that were histologically similar to primitive ductal and vascular channels. The author suggests that this may explain the mechanism by which tumor angiogenesis occurs. Similar in vitro experiments produced microcalcifications similar to those found in breast malignancies in previously normal breast fat.

This seminal work opens important new subjects for research and may ultimately explain many heretofore inexplicable biologic phenomena. However, it is more than a scholarly report of a massive research effort. It is an interesting, often exciting account of a brilliant mind in vigorous action. It leaves the reader exhilarated.

Morton G. Glickman, MD, Professor of Diagnostic Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine

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By Björn E W Nordenström,M. D., Professor Emeritus of Diagnostic Radiology,
Karolinska Institut and Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
Printed in Sweden by Almqvist & Wisell Tryckeri, Uppsala 1998
This book may be obtained from the publisher Nordic Medical Publications,
Arsenalsgatan 4, S-111 47 Stockholm, Sweden. Telephone: +46 8 6797475,
Telefax: +46 8 6797220. Price USD 39.-plus postal expenses. Shipping weight 0,6 kg.

When I read Dr. Björn Nordenström's first book Biologically Closed Electric Circuits (BCEC) I did not understand it. I believed in his basic premise, that the human body has an additional electrical circulatory system. This system involves the co-transport of ions and electrons that form continuous electric currents in various portions of the body. But I had a difficult time reading and understanding his first book. I read it over and over again, and I still had difficulties getting "the message". I thought, "Maybe this material is just too complex for me."
Then, it all came together in a flash. In a moment of inspiration I realized that my problems with understanding his book was not because it contained complex material. The real reason that I was having difficulty understanding Dr. Nordenström's message was because -- - his message is simple - - - the theory behind it is simple. My preconceived notions were the source of the complexity that I had imagined. All I had to do was toss out a few preconceived notions, ignore some of my previous training in biomedical sciences and use a conceptual model that is not much more complicated than the electrical circuits involved with an automobile battery. Dr. Nordenström has a unique talent of observing seemingly complex phenomena, questioning the meaning of the phenomena and describing the theory behind that phenomena in relatively simple terms.
Dr. Nordenström sees what others do not see or recognize as being significant. Next to him, I feel like a blind man. Where others see blips and artifacts on a cancer patients's radiograph, Dr. Nordenström sees movement of water and material. He sees (and measures) electric potentials between a tumor and healthy tissue. He, then, proposes a theory of Biologically Closed Electric Circuits (BCEC). From this theory, he develops electrotherapeutic techniques to treat cancer and other diseases. His theories are "put to the test", and they pass with flying colors.
Some will look at a colored region on a gel that has been electrically excited. Most will view the colored region as a blot of color. Dr. Nordenström sees spiralling vorteces of charged matter. Some people look into the vastness of space and see it as "empty space". Dr. Nordenström looks at the vastness of space and sees it as being full of lifegiving energy. He views space as a vessel storing the energy resources that serve as the foundation for all living things.
Björn Nordenström has the mind of a medical doctor, scientist, engineer, poet, musician, philosopher and child who keeps asking; "Why?" He often tempers his judgements with the realization that "nothing is as it seems". "We must rigorously test our theories." Dr. Nordenström is a man with many questions, who is not chained by dogma. If the dogma is clearly wrong, outdated or does not make sense; Dr Nordenström has the brilliance and courage to change that dogma or develop a new one. In doing so, he irritates those who are chained by their dogma and preconceived notions. This is a man who can have an emotional and intellectual impact on all of us if we just let him "rattle our chains".
BCEC concepts and the electrotherapeutic techniques that are evolving from these concepts are extraordinary developments in the history of medicine. Many biomedical researchers have expressed the opinion that "If Dr. Nordenström is wrong, his work and results still provide significant motivation for us to look at biological systems in a different way." "However, if Dr. Nordenström is right, he will have made the most significant discovery and contribution to medicine since William Harvey described blood circulation more than 350 years ago. "There are many similarities between the research effort, approach and initial reactions to the work done by William Harvey and Björn Nordenström. Using what was known about physiology, mathematics and physics in his time; Harvey's experiments demonstrated that blood circulated at an unbelievably high velocity. Blood did not just "ebb and flow" as the dogma of the time maintained. Many of Harvey's colleagues demonstrated a Stage 1 medical reaction (instant rejection coupled with anger and ridicule). But the concepts Harvey developed had enough relevance in medicine that, over a long period of time, attitudes changed; and the Stage 2 medical reaction (reluctant acceptance) began to dominate medical thinking and practice. In a similar manner, for the past 30 years, Björn Nordenström has utilized concepts in physics, mathematics, chemistry, physiology and immunology; combined with a massive amount of experimentation; to describe a system of continuous energy circulation and circulating electrical currents in living systems. Dr. Nordenström demonstrates how "circulating currents influence structure and function. These currents  participate in maintaining equilibrium and healing processes in living organisms."  Dr. Nordenström's concepts of continuous energy circulation, the interrelationships between life and death; proliferation and regression, energy and matter and macroscopic and microscopic phenomena appear very clear to me.
Dr. Nordenström initially encountered a significant amount of the Stage 1 medical reaction from his colleagues. However, in a manner similar to William Harvey's experience, Dr. Nordenström's concepts work very well when they are applied to medical practice. Thousands of cancer patients have been successfully treated all over the world (Sweden, China, Germany, Italy, Denmark and Poland) with an electrochemical therapy (EchT) approach that was initially developed using BCEC concepts. It is just a matter of time before the Stage 2 medical reaction occurs with respect to Dr. Nordenström's BCEC theories and the electrotherapeutic techniques derived from his BCEC concepts.
To appreciate Dr. Björn Nordenström, this is the book you need to read first. Once you have finished this book, I would recommend that you read the other one authored by Dr. Nordenström, Biologically Closed Electric Circuits. But before you read either book, open your mind and try to ignor your biases. Try to view the author as a brilliant, gentle, wise and knowledgable renaissance man who is firm in his convictions. Some would say "stubborn". (I think the word "firm" is more appropriate). Regard Björn Nordenström as a guide and good friend with a firm hand, who is going to take you on a very interesting adventure. The places he takes you may scare you a bit, but your guide and friend has a strong grip on your hand. He won't let go. And when your journey is finished, you will have been given the privilege of viewing the next paradigm in biomedicine by the man who was the first to describe it in a way that it can be understood and applied.

Björn E.W. Nordenström

Extract of Publications on Functional and Structural Expressions in Biology and Medicine which Depend on Biologically Closed Electric Circuits (BCEC) and Their Network of Integrated Mechanisms

(Numbers refer to the complete List of Publications)

100. Nordenström BEW: Electric potential fluctuations in the liver. IRCS 2:1666 (1974).

102. Nordenström BEW: Electrocoagulation of small lung tumors. In Current concepts in radiology. Potchen EJ (ed). Mosby, St. Louis 3:331-347 (1977).

108. Nordenström BEW: Preliminary clinical trials of electrophoretic ionization in the treatment of malignant tumors. IRCS 6:537 (1978).

117 Nordenström BEW: Biologically closed electric circuits: Activation of vascular interstitial closed electric circuits for treatment of inoperable cancers. J Bioelectricity 3:137-153 (1984).

120. Nordenström BEW: Electrochemical treatment of cancer. Ann Radiol 28:128 129 (1985).

121. Nordenström BEW: Biokinetic impact on structure and imaging of the lung: The concept of biologically closed electric circuits. AJR 145:447-467 (1985).

122. Nordenström BEW: Direct current treatment of lung cancer. In Neoplasie del torace. Veronesi U, Pezzuoli G, Ravasi O, Santoro O (eds). Casa Editrice Ambrosiana, Milano, pp 219-226 (1986).

123. Nordenström BEW: An additional circulatory system: Vascular-interstitial closed electric circuits (VICC). J Biol Phys 15:43-55 (1987).

125. Nordenström BEW: An electrophysiological view of acupuncture. Role of capacitative and closed circuit currents and their clinical effects in the treatment of cancer and chronic pain. Am J Acupuncture 17:105-117 (1989).

126. Nordenström BEW: Akupunktur und geschlossene biologische Stromkreise. Akupunktur - Theorie und Praxis 17:90-97 (1989).

127. Nordenström BEW: Electrochemical treatment of cancer by activation of vascular-interstitial channels. In New radiologic imaging and intervention in general surgery. Ussia G, Bassi F, Feirucci JT (eds). Masson, Milano, pp 143 159 (1989)

128. Nordenström BEW: Vascular-interstitial-neuromuscular activation: Differences in femoral and sciatic nerves in the rat. J Bioelectrieity 8:109-117 (1989).

129. Nordenström BEW: Electrochemical cancer treatment. In Interventional radiology. Dondelinger RF, Rossi P, Kurdziel JC, Wallace S (eds). Thieme, Stuttgart, pp 498-504 (1990).

130. Nordenström BEW: Electrochemical treatment of cancer. 1. Variable response to anodic and cathodic fields. Am J Clin Oncol (CCT) 12:530-536 (1989).

131. Nordenström BEW, Eksborg S, Beving H: Electrochemical treatment of cancer. 11. Effect of electrophoretic influence on Adriamycin. Am J. Clin Oncol (CCT) 13:75-78 (1990).

132. Eksborg S, Nordenström BEW, Beving H: Electrochemical treatment of cancer. Ill. Plasma pharmacokinetics of Adriamycin after intraneoplastic administration. Am J Clin Oncol (CCT) 13:164-166 (1990).

133. Beving H, Eksborg S, Nordenström BEW: Electrochemical treatment of cancer. IV. Leukocyte and platelet counts in peripheral blood after electrochemical treatment of solitary lung neoplasms. Am J Clin Oncol (CCT) 13:167-170 (1990).

134. Nordenström BEW: Vesicles, basement membranes and the endothelial fibrin film as possible products of biological electrode reactions. In Electropharmaco logy. Eckert Gil, Gutmann F, Keyzer H (eds). CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 189 203 (1990)

135. Nordenström BEW: I. Neurovascular activation requires conduction through vessels. Physiol Chem Phys & Med NMR 21:249-256 (1989)

136. Nordenström BEW, Larsson H: I1. Slow and rapid electrical pulses in the caval vein at pain-evoked leg contraction in the rat. Physiol Chem Phys & Med NMR 21 257-264 (1989).

137. Nordenström BEW: Ill. The action potential; An effect of fuel cell reactions in the synapse. Physiol Chem Phys 8 Med NMR 21:265-278 (1989).

138. Nordenström BEW, Kinn AC, Elbarouni J: Electric modification of kidney function. The excretion of radiographic contrast media and Adriamycin. Invest Radiol 26:157-161(1991).

139. Azavedo A, Nordenström BEW, Svane C: Radiological evidence of response to electrochemical treatment of breast cancer. Clin Radiol 43:84-87 (1991).

140. Kinn AC, Nordenström BEW, Elbarouni 3, Nilsson 1: Effects of direct current on renal function. Urol Res 19:397-400 (1991).

143. Nordenström BEW: Link between external electromagnetic field and biological matter. Intern J Environmental Studies 41:233-250 (1992).

144. Nordenström BEW: IV. Electrical pulses appear in the inferior vena cava and abdominal aorta at contraction of leg muscles. Physiol Chem Phys & Med NMR 24:147-152 (1992).

145. Nordenström BEW, Larsson H, Lindqvist M: V. Potential differences in the inferior vena cava and between cava and extravascular electrode at leg contraction in man. Physiol Chem Phys & Med NMR 24:153-158 (1992).

146. Nordenström BEW: Rand movements above the unshielded tail of a shielded rat induce differences of voltage inside the animal. Amer J Acupuncture 20:157-163 (1992).

147. Nordenström BEW: Impact of biologically closed electric circuits (BCEC) on  structure and function. Integrative Physiological and Behavioral Science 27:285 303, (1992).

148. Nordenström BEW, Ipavec S, Alfas S: Interferences of electromagnetic field with biological matter. Intern J Environmental Studies 42:157-167, (1992).

149. Nordenström BEW: Vl. Synaptic fuel cell reactions in vascular-interstitial neuromuscular (VINM) closed circuits. Theory of neuromuscular activation. Electro- and Magnetobiology 12:99-115 (1993).

150. Nordenström BEW. Näslund I. Nordenström J. Wersäll P (eds): Proceedings of the IABC International Association for Biologically Closed Electric Circuits (BCEC) in Medicine and Biology. Scandinavian University Press. Suppl 574. (1994).

151. Nordenström BEW: Principle of electrostatic voltage impact on ionic membrane pumps leading to partial dissolution of metastases, followed by total regression after chemotherapy. Internal Medicine 2:79-91, (1994)

152. The paradigm of biologically closed electric circuits (BCEC). Internal Medicine (in press).

153. Nordenström BEW: Exploring BCEC-systems (Biologically Closed Electric Circuits). Nordic Medical Publications. Stockholm. (1998).

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