BLOOD PRESSURE CONTROLLED BY LOW REACTIVE LEVEL DIODE LASER THERAPY (LLLT)

Abstract

The effects of low reactive level laser therapy (LLLT) with an infrared diode laser on blood pressure, particularly the hypotensive effect on hypertension were studied. Essential or primary hypertension is frequently encountered, but its aetiology and consistent control elude present day medicine. Experimental animal studies have shown that hypertension causes destructive changes in the medulla oblongata and in the brain stem: arteriosclerosis, and destructive changes in brain stem cells have been demonstrated in hypertensive human patients. Various biological effects on vascular tissue have been reported for the diode laser, and so the author evaluated the GaAlAs diode laser for the treatment of hypertension by controlling the blood pressure regulatory system, irradiating the area adjacent to the medulla oblongata, Thirty patients were included in the study. Following treatment the results were graded as excellent in 6 patients (20%); good in 11 patients (37%); fair in seven cases (23%), and ineffective in 6 cases (20%), giving an overall effective rate of 80%. In 12 of the 30 patients, whose hypertension had not been effectively controlled by conventional hypotensive treatment, LLLT gave excellent results in 6, good in 5 and fair in 1 patient. In contrast, in a second group of 15 relatively normotensive control patients, there were no excellent or good results, and only 3 fair results, the remainder being graded as ineffective. It was concluded that in general there was no clear-cut hypotensive effect following LLLT with the diode laser, but when applied to the pathological condition known as essential hypertension, LLLT was noticeably effective. These findings warrant further study on this application of LLLT.