Two Wound Studies with Laser and LED

Just a couple of the studies on this--first low level laser with diabetic rats--




Now Light Emitting diodes on animals and humans

being used for something useful for a change.

Redstone

They have been at the forefront in research using light emitting diodes in the U.S.A.

It's just really too bad that only a tiny fraction of the people here who have non-healing wounds are even offered this type of treatment with either low level laser therapy or LED light. And many go on to lose limbs. At least some of them would have been helped by this treatment.

Topical hyperbaric oxygen is another interesting treatment. And, in Israel there have been impressive studies using a combination of the two modalities (LLLT and topical hyperbaric oxygen).

Here is a website on topical hyperbaric oxygen--

http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/oxywound.htm

http://www.aetna.com/cpb/data/CPBA0604.html



And since there is no financial advantage for an insurance group to want a patient's wound NOT to heal (just increases the risk of infection and much more expensive treatment later), it's hard to dismiss this as "big pharma big insurance big government hooey."

So because Aetna denied it you say not quite so promising?? Old meta analyses include studies that were done before effective dosages were established. Thus they were irrelevant.


http://www.laser.nu/lllt/LLLT_critic_on_critics.htm




The dosages were being worked out in the earlier studies. Too low of a dose and it is just like a placebo treatment.

Anyway, this is an example of something that isn't "proven" yet, to the satisfaction of insurers, in the USA. However it is used in other countries quite a bit and has no known side effects.

Another study--

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=10469307&query_hl=24&itool=pubmed_docsum

Recurrent infection with herpes simplex virus is a common disease. Recently, alternative therapies have been introduced. Among those, low-intensity laser therapy mainly used for the acceleration of wound healing and in pain therapy has previously been shown to be of benefit in herpes zoster infections. In this study we evaluated the influence of low-intensity laser therapy (wavelength 690 nm, intensity: 80 mW per cm2, dose: 48 J per cm2) in 50 patients with recurrent perioral herpes simplex infection (at least once per month for more than 6 mo) in a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial design. Patients in the laser group received daily irradiations for 2 wk, whereas patients in the placebo group were sham-irradiated. After completion of the laser/sham treatment, patients were asked to return to the Department of Dermatology, University of Vienna Medical School at the time of recurrence. All except two patients completed the study and were monitored for 52 wk. The median recurrence-free interval in the laser-treated group was 37.5 wk (range: 2-52 wk) and in the placebo group 3 wk (range: 1-20 wk). This difference was found to be statistically significant (p < 0.0001; Wilcoxon's Rank Sum Test). In conclusion, we demonstrated that a total of 10 irradiations with low-intensity laser therapy significantly lowers the incidence of local recurrence of herpes simplex infection. Since this athermic phototherapeutic modality represents a safe, noninvasive treatment, it might be considered as an alternative to established therapeutic regimens in this indication.


Anyway, thanks for making the point for me. This is something that is "unproven" (in the USA), and a good example of something that would probably be a good thing to try if one had a non-healing wound, given its history of use in other countries and positive studies when the correct dosage is use. The devices are cleared by the FDA for other uses here. So this is sort of like giving anti psychotic meds to ADHD kids--oh, I forget, except that they are dangerous and this is not.

Must not have gotten confused like Aetna over all those meta analyses--

http://www.jhconline.com/article-novdec2005-contractingnews.asp

Cleveland Clinic employs Anodyne Therapy System
Cleveland Clinic Health System installed the Anodyne Therapy System from Tampa Fla-based Anodyne Therapy, LLC in its home health agency, wound care, and Wooster Podiatry and Physical Therapy clinics. Cleveland Clinic has been using the Anodyne Therapy System on an evaluation basis since April 2005 with its advanced wound care protocols and physical therapy interventions to increase circulation for wound healing, pain reduction and balance improvements.

This is an LED device. Now, really, Anodyne has FDA clearance for some kinds of pain, not wound healing (to my knowledge), but according to this website, Cleveland Clinic also uses it for wound healing. However, I am not sure about insurance coverage. Since it is being used on an evaluation basis, they must have thought it was a decent thing to try (I agree).

But I'm just pointing out that the studies are far from conclusive. If you have research dollars to spend, it's hard to say at this point whether this or other technologies should be looked at.

Just because someone points out conflicting evidence doesn't mean they're attacking your pet treatment.