Bengaluru, Jun 8 (IANS): SBF Healthcare & Research Centre would offer sequentially programmed magnetic field therapy for treating patients suffering from brain tumor with cancer cells in India and the US, a top official said on Saturday.

"The magnetic therapy, which treated 500 brain tumor cancer patients at our hospital as part of the pilot project, has been adopted in the US for treating malignant brain tumor cancer," SBF founder Chairman Wing Commander (retired) V.G. Vasishta said in a statement here.

The 13-year-old private healthcare firm also claimed to have treated about 8,500 patients across the country suffering from acute pain in their worn-out knee joints (osteo-arthritis) with the patented magnetic therapy treatment.

"We have signed an agreement with the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California in Los Angeles for neuro-oncology research to treat brain tumors with our magnetic therapy," Vasishta said.

According to the new US Health Bill of President Donald Trump on "Right to Try Law", the SBF therapy can be used for treating US citizens without the regulatory FDA approval.

According to a recent study, an estimated 4-5 lakh Indians, including 20 per cent children, have been diagnosed with brain tumor.

"Brain tumors are treated with surgery, chemotherapy and radiation though the survival span of the patients is not more than 14 months. Our magnetic therapy, however, has enabled such patients to survive over 5 years on an average," claimed Vasishta.

The non-invasive and painless treatment for brain tumour evaluates the efficacy of its therapy, using MRI and the Karnofsky performance score, considered a standard in the domain.

"The treatment is administered through a medical device called Aktis Soma for an hour over 28 days," the former Indian Air Force (IAF) official said.

Noting that there was a need for non-surgical intervention without side-effects in treating cancer, Vasishta said his invented therapy halted the disease, improved the quality of life and extended survival chances.

Commemorating the World Brain Tumor Day, which falls on June 8 every year, the private hospital is offering a week-long consultation programme from June 12 at its facility in the city's southeast suburb.