Tiina Karu, PhD, DrSci
The question of whether photobiomodulation should be used as a drug equivalent arose in my mind after listening to presentations at the recent conference of the World Association for Laser Therapy (WALT)-2012 (Gold Cost City, Australia), and later at home when searching MEDLINE® for the years 2009–2012. Photobiomodulation (earlier terms: low level laser therapy, LLLT, laser biostimulation) has been used in clinical practice for >40 years by now, and its action mechanisms on cellular and molecular levels have been studied for >30 years. Enthusiastic medical specialists successfully used photobiomodulation in treating healing-resistant wounds and ulcers (e.g., chronic diabetic ulcers), in pain management, and in spinal cord and nervous system injuries when other methods had had limited success.1 However, photobiomodulation is still not a part of mainstream medicine. The goal of the present Editorial is to highlight some important recent developments in clinical applications and in studies of cellular and molecular mechanisms behind the clinical findings.
Explore more red light therapy studies:
Review of light parameters and photobiomodulation efficacy: dive into complexity
Special Issue on Stem Cells and Photobiomodulation Therapy
Proposed Mechanisms of Photobiomodulation or Low-Level Light Therapy
