DrSharonMailey

Nursing students learn benefits of PBM as area is home to leaders in field

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DrSharonMailey

SHEPHERDSTOWN — With many leaders and early users of photobiomodulation in various ways sprinkled throughout the Eastern Panhandle, Shepherd University took the time to continue its efforts in the field with a recent presentation to nursing students on the benefits of light therapy and wound healing.

The university received a $2.7 million federal grant a few years ago to address rural health issues, several components being involved in the grant, including the light therapy aspect.

“PBM was discovered in 1967,” PBM Foundation’s Hon. Scot Faulkner said. “Basically, I like to say we’re warm-blooded plants. We need Vitamin D. We change color in the sun. We seem to be happier when it’s sunny versus overcast. As a result, different part of the light spectrum do different good things for the body.”

Read more on The Journal or download the PDF»

Light-Based Therapy Shows Promise in Treating Mucositis in Pediatric Cancer Patients

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A new light-based device for wound healing is showing excellent early results in the treatment of mucositis in pediatric cancer patients.1 The therapy, referred to as photobiomodulation, uses low-level lasers in the near-infrared range to stimulate and promote wound healing and regeneration. The device is being studied in the prevention and treatment of mucositis in pediatric cancer patients at WVU Medicine in Morgantown, West Virginia, and other centers in the United States.

Read more on Cancer Therapy Advisor or download the PDF»

WVU Medicine

WVU Medicine Children’s, WVU Cancer Institute work to reduce pain in pediatric cancer patients

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Chemotherapy is difficult for any child, but when it causes mucositis, a painful side effect that causes ulcers to form in the mouth, it gets even harder. These children often require more pain medications and longer hospital stays.

Ben Wilson, 11, of Dilliner, Pa., was one of those patients. He was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma. The chemotherapy regimen he was on was known to cause mucositis, but it was his best course of treatment. When he developed mucositis, his mother, Alison Wilson, talked to Dr. Hannah Hazard-Jenkins, director of the WVU Cancer Institute, about the trouble Ben was having with sores in his mouth and how difficult it was to maintain a lengthy mouthwash regimen to try to treat them.

“We tried some preventive treatments, including cold therapy, where you have them eat a lot of ice and do a series of seven mouthwashes, ” Alison Wilson said. “The cold therapy didn’t help much. Plus, it’s hard to use seven mouthwashes in a day, especially if you’re a kid, and they don’t taste very good.”

Read more on YahooNews or download the PDF»

 

Photo courtesy of Massachusetts General Hospital

Let there be light – Study led by Mass. General suggests light therapy is safe and may help patients with moderate brain injury

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Light therapy is safe and has measurable effects in the brain, according to a pioneering study by researchers from the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Senior investigators Rajiv Gupta, director of the Ultra-High Resolution Volume CT Lab at MGH, and Benjamin Vakoc at the Wellman Center led the study, which was supported by a grant from the Department of Defense (DOD) and published in JAMA Network Open Sept. 14.

Read more on The Harvard Gazette or download the PDF»

Photo courtesy of Massachusetts General Hospital

Orientation of Laser Beams

A 57-Year-Old African American Man with Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia Who Responded to Supportive Photobiomodulation Therapy (PBMT): First Use of PBMT in COVID-19

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A 57-year-old African American man with severe COVID-19 received 4 once-daily PBMT sessions by a laser scanner with pulsed 808 nm and super-pulsed 905 nm modes for 28 min. The patient was evaluated before and after treatment via radiological assessment of lung edema (RALE) by CXR, pulmonary severity indices, blood tests, oxygen requirements, and patient questionnaires. Oxygen saturation (SpO2) increased from 93–94% to 97–100%, while the oxygen requirement decreased from 2–4 L/min to 1 L/min. The RALE score improved from 8 to 5. The Pneumonia Severity Index improved from Class V (142) to Class II (67). Additional pulmonary indices (Brescia-COVID and SMART-COP) both decreased from 4 to 0. CRP normalized from 15.1 to 1.23. The patient reported substantial improvement in the Community-Acquired Pneumonia assessment tool . . .

American Journal of Case Reports | August 15, 2020
Author: Scott A. Sigman

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Photo courtesy American Journal of Case Reports

Laser treatment for coronavirus shows positive results in patient with severe disease

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Photo courtesy American Journal of Case Reports

A pain-free laser treatment traditionally used to reduce inflammation could now help coronavirus patients after it showed positive results in a severe COVID-19 patient on a path to intubation who instead was discharged from the hospital.

“This was a man who was really failing to thrive, had not been eating, was not able to get out of bed,” said Dr. Scott Sigman, orthopedic surgeon and team physician at UMass Lowell.

The patient in Sigman’s study, published in the American Journal of Case Reports, was a 57-year-old Black man diagnosed with coronavirus and was admitted to the ICU for respiratory distress. . .

Boston Herald | August 11, 2020
Author: Alexi Cohan
Photo courtesy American Journal of Case Reports

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Light Brings a Delicate Touch to Treatment

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From alleviating pain, inflammation, and depression to encouraging a youthful complexion, LEDs and lasers offer a drug-free, precisely targeted therapy with minimal reported side effects.

Read more on Bio-Photonics or download the PDF»

white paper

Photoimmunotherapy: A Novel Field with Overlapping Light Treatment Approaches

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The use of light asa therapeutic modality is often metwith some skepticism. Despite its all-pervasive naturein our daily lives, there are several evidences for the abilityof the human body to perceive and utilize the physical formof electromagnetic radiation energy that light represents.Two key examples are the ability of sunlight to promote vi-tamin D metabolism (ultraviolet-B, UV-B 300 nm) and visiblelight (400–700 nm) enabling vision.

Photobiomodulation, Photomedicine, and Laser Surgery | June 29, 2020
Author: Praveen R. Arany, BDS, MDS, MMSc, PhD

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Light Therapy Could Replace Opioids As Main Treatment For Cancer Treatment Mouth Ulcers

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A worldwide coalition of researchers and clinicians has agreed that light therapy is among the most effective interventions for the prevention of oral mucositis, painful ulcers in the mouth resulting from cancer therapy.

Read more on Science Blog or download the PDF»

Light Therapy May Stop Cancer Treatment Side Effect

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Researchers say that light therapy is an effective treatment for oral ulcers resulting from radiation therapy for head and neck cancer or stem cell transplants.

Read more on United Press International or download the PDF»