Phototherapy improves healing of chronic venous ulcers.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

We tested the hypothesis that LED phototherapy with combined 660-nm and 890-nm light will promote healing of venous ulcers that failed to respond to other forms of treatment.

BACKGROUND DATA:

A variety of dressings, growth factors, and adjunct therapies are used to treat venous ulcers, but none seems to yield satisfactory results.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

We used a randomized placebo-controlled double-blind study to compare a total of 20 patients divided with 32 chronic ulcers into three groups. In group 1 the ulcers were cleaned, dressed with 1% silver sulfadiazine (SDZ) cream, and treated with placebo phototherapy (<.03 J/cm(-3)) using a Dynatron Solaris 705 phototherapy research device. In group 2 the ulcers were treated similarly but received real phototherapy (3 J/cm(-2)) instead of placebo. In group 3 (controls), the ulcers were simply cleaned and dressed with SDZ without phototherapy. The ulcers were evaluated with digital photography and computer image analysis over 90 d or until full healing was attained.

RESULTS:

Ulcers treated with phototherapy healed significantly faster than controls when compared at day 30 (p +/- 0.01), day 60 (p +/- 0.05), and day 90 (p +/- 0.001), and similarly healed faster than the placebo-treated ulcers at days 30 and 90 (p +/- 0.01), but not at day 60. The beneficial effect of phototherapy was more pronounced when the confounding effect of small-sized ulcers was removed from the analysis. Medium- and large-sized ulcers healed significantly faster with treatment (>or=40% rate of healing per month) than placebo or control ulcers (p +/- 0.05).

CONCLUSION:

Phototherapy promotes healing of chronic venous ulcers, particularly large recalcitrant ulcers that do not respond to conventional treatment.

• Authors: Kelly Steinkopf Caetano, Marco Andrey Cipriani Frade, Débora Garbin Minatel, Luisiane Avila Santana, Chukuka S Enwemeka
• Journal: Photomedicine and laser surgery (Photomed Laser Surg) Vol. 27 Issue 1 Pg. 111-8 (Feb 2009) ISSN: 1557-8550 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 19196110 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Randomized Controlled Trial)

Chemical References

• Anti-Infective Agents, Local
• Silver Sulfadiazine

Topics

• Anti-Infective Agents, Local (administration & dosage)
• Double-Blind Method
• Humans
• Phototherapy
• Silver Sulfadiazine (administration & dosage)
• Varicose Ulcer (drug therapy, pathology, therapy)
• Wound Healing