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Raynaud's Patients Respond To Lower Laser Therapy
A DGReview of :"Double-blind, randomised, placebo controlled low level laser therapy study in patients with primary Raynaud's phenomenon"
VASA
07/22/2002
By Anne MacLennan
Low-level laser therapy may be an effective treatment for Raynaud's phenomenon, according to a placebo controlled clinical trial in Austria.
Despite the limited duration of the effect the finding is promising and further studies are needed, suggests this multicentre study, headed by Dr M. Hirschl from Vienna's Angiologische Ambulanz und Tagesklinik, Hanuschkrankenhaus Wien.
To date, no causal treatment of primary Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) is available because of the unclear aetiology of the condition. Since low level laser therapy (LLLT) is applied in many conditions, frequently without evidence of efficacy and established mechanisms, these authors wanted to assess its effect in 15 patients with primary RP.
The researchers evaluated absolute and relative frequency and intensity of vasospastic attacks during three weeks of either LLLT or placebo therapy and the results of infrared thermography before onset and at the end of both therapy sequences.
LLLT did not significantly affect the frequency of Raynaud's attacks.
However, a significantly lower intensity of attacks was observed during laser irradiation than placebo treatment, but no transfer effect occurred. As well, the mean temperature gradient after cold exposure was reduced after laser irradiation versus placebo, while the number of fingers showing prolonged rewarming was unaffected.
Vasa, Seite 91 - 94, Band 31, 2002, Heft 2
"Double-blind, randomised, placebo controlled low level laser therapy study in patients with primary Raynaud's phenomenon"
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